The Marauders and the Triwizard Tournament

The Marauders and the Triwizard Tournament

By Naycit and Celena Lupin

Chapter Seven: Meeting the Parents.

'Miss Lily Evans, age seventeen, and pupil of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is the first fourth Triwizard Champion of all history. Auburn hair and beautiful emerald eyes, Miss Evans was surprised when her name came out from the Goblet of Fire after the 'official' Hogwarts champion had already been determined. In the rules, it states that only three members are allowed... so how did this happen? Even though Miss Evans entered her name, she knew she wouldn't be able to compete since Mr Andrew Banks had already been selected. Dark wizards or Fame-Seeking pranksters?' Professor Dumbledore refused to comment...'

Lily didn't read anymore and tossed the paper into the fire, rubbing her eyes and leaning back against the red couch that belonged to the Gryffindor common room. Arnold Smithers had dragged her off to some room, asked her a lot of strange questions, which didn't have any relation with the Tournament whatsoever, and had finally let her go half an hour later. Clarisse went next, then Andrew, and finally Alexei. Sirius took her back to the Gryffindor tower and just let her sleep for the rest of the day, since she felt tired and very drained.

That morning, Lily had received a letter from her mother saying that Dumbledore had offered her parents, and Petunia to come along to watch Lily enter each task. Mr and Mrs Evans had quickly taken up the offer, and unfortunately, so did Petunia and her new fiancé, Vernon Dursley. Why Petunia would want to come along, and bring her fiancé with her on top of things, baffled Lily to the lake and back again. Probably her parents had had something to do with it. Lily stared down at the letter and shrugged. It didn't really bother her... she had some other things to worry about. Getting up, she headed towards Dumbledore's office. Thankfully, it was the weekend and everyone had gone to Hogsmeade so the castle was deserted. She didn't want to find offended Ravenclaws or sneering Slytherins.

Lily uttered the password for Dumbledore's office (Cauldron Cakes) and walked up a few steps, deciding just to wait until the staircase got her to the door. She knocked, waited for the 'Come in' and finally entered. As in times past, she was awed by the nick-knacks that filled every last corner of the office. Lily's green eyes quickly caught sight of the beautiful phoenix she'd seen so many times. The creature seemed to have developed a soft spot for her, since he always let out a low musical note every time she approached. She stroked him briefly before going to sit in front of the Headmaster's desk.

"You wanted to see me, Miss Evans?" Dumbledore said, slightly surprised to see that his Phoenix was in such good terms with her. "Ah, I see you've taken a liking for her, Fawkes."

"Fawkes," Lily echoed. "So that's your name."

The phoenix let out another musical cry, which sounded more like laughter than a cry.

"He's very pretty, Professor," she said. "I'm getting one as soon as I get my own place."

"I'm sure you will, Miss Evans." He went to sit behind his desk and gestured to her to sit down in front of him. "So what is it that brings you to my office instead of Hogsmeade and your friends?"

"Er... Well, I just wanted to know, sir, when my parents and... sister... will be arriving..."

"Ah, your parents will be arriving at lunch-time with your sister and Mr Dursley. Professor McGonagall has gone to your home, and she will be bringing them."

Lily nodded and then dropped her head. Although she loved her sister in a way she knew would never be reciprocal, she couldn't help but dread the moment she arrived with her grumpy fiancé. As if sensing her anxiousness, Fawkes flew from his perch to her shoulder, startling her. Dumbledore smiled and offered her some lemon drops. "Do not worry, Miss Evans. I'm sure your sister is not as ill-hearted as you think she is."

"I wish that were true," she told him, stroking Fawkes' feathers.

"Ah, I see that my pet has taken a liking for your hair," the Headmaster added as Fawkes took a long lock in his beak and began to play with it. "How flawlessly he blends with your hair, Miss Evans," he sighed. "I think that's why he seems to favour you above any other students who come here. I'd never seen him behave like this." Lily shook her head and Dumbledore smiled. "You have a mysterious charm, Miss Evans."

***

Lily left Dumbledore's office a few minutes later. He asked her to come back around one o'clock to greet her parents, sister and future in-law, to which she agreed immediately albeit reluctantly. By the time she arrived to the common room, her Housemates were starting to get back from Hogsmeade, including one of the Marauders. Lily frowned slightly when she saw Remus sitting near the fire, looking tired and very pale, all by himself. "Remus?" Lily called, walking over to her Prefect partner.

Remus looked up and smiled. "Evans! Solved the clue yet?" he asked her brightly.

Lily shook her head and sat next to him, rubbing her eyes. "Not yet. No one is meant to help either, but I should have enough time. It's only three days until the Task is due. In the mean time, my parents are coming here to see how I make a fool of myself along with my really Muggle sister and her fiancé."

"Ah, James and Sirius will be happy about that," Remus grinned slightly, looking over at the redheaded girl. Lily couldn't help but laugh. "I can think of a hundred ways to prank your sister and her boyfriend. I shiver to think what they can do."

"True... I think they'll have more fun with Petunia and her husband to-be." She sighed. "How that relationship will work, I have no idea. They'll have to buy two beds, just so he can fit."

Her last comment sent Remus to a rib-breaking fit of laughter.

"So he's large? Poor thing... Sirius won't leave him alone, then. Just look at what he does to poor Beruzzi."

He knew all about Lily's sister from their patrols they did together. The first conversation they had had was Petunia Evans and why she thought Lily was a 'freak'. Needless to say, Remus was shocked to his bones.

"However, I would appreciate if you didn't scare the wits-- if they have any-- out of my poor sister and Vernon. Our relationship is no good at the present time, and this would only make it worse."

"Are you asking me to stop Sirius and James from pranking this Vernon bloke?"

"Yes... I know you don't--"

"Of course I don't. I don't like pranking anyone," Remus cut her off. "But it will be harder to convince James and Sirius."

"If you would just--"

Remus shook his head before she even finished. "They never listen to me, Evans. However, you may make a stronger point if you tell them."

She rolled her eyes. "Remus..."

"Whatever you may think, Evans, they do have a certain amount of understanding."

Lily chuckled. "Alright then, I'll tell them when they come back. Why aren't you with them, by the way?"

"Er... they..."

"They didn't go to bully Severus again, did they?" she asked suspiciously.

"Er... no... but..."

"Who are they pranking?"

"I honestly don't know, but--"

"And you let them? Why didn't you stop them?" she demanded fiercely.

"They fled under James's... er... I lost them..." Remus swallowed. He had been close to tell her about the Invisibility Cloak, which was certain to land James into serious trouble.

"You lost them?"

"Er..."

"Now I see why they don't listen to you. You never stand up to them, do you?"

"Er... Evans..." Eloquence wasn't his forte today, apparently.

"What are the odds they will listen to me?" she wondered in despair. "Oh dear... what will Pet say?"

"Evans," Remus began. "I'm sure they will listen to this. They're thickheads, but they are good-hearted."

Lily mumbled something to her hands, which were covering her face.

"Okay, enough about your sister," he said cheerfully, trying to steer the subject away from dangerous matters. "I can see you're getting depressed just by thinking of it. Why don't you tell me about this clue to the Task?"

"Well... there's no much of a clue there," she pointed out, finally surfacing from her hands. Remus got settled and waited for Lily to start. "The Ministry person gave us this parchment. All it says is 'This task is meant to challenge your daring side. Courage is needed as well as a good eye for deceiving riddles. The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of other students and a panel of judges. The Champions will face their challenges armed with only their wands.'"

Remus frowned and rubbed his eyes. "Is that all?"

"Not much, is it?" Lily shook her head and leaned back, closing her eyes.

"Wait a moment," Remus prompted. "You're forgetting Godric's Trident."

Lily arched a confused eyebrow at Remus. "What's that got to do with the task?"

Remus smiled. Perhaps Sirius and James were right. "Why do you think Professor Binns would talk so much about it? We're not meant to be learning about it, anyway." Remus nodded to himself and stood. "Come on. We better go and talk to him."

"Remus, you're not making any sense..."

"Evans, no matter how much Professors Flitwick and Slughorn praise your unnatural brightness, you'll never be smart enough where cunning and devious ways are concerned."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "And you are?"

"I'm a Marauder," he replied smugly, as if that sentence said it all.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever... I still don't see what with Godric's Trident."

"Let's go to Binns and see what we find out, why don't we?"

Slightly reluctant, Lily stood as well and followed him out the common room and down to Binns' office. He knocked on the door, tapping with his foot impatiently. When nobody answered, Lily poked her head inside and called, "Professor?" It became obvious in the end that Binns was not there.

"Now what?" she demanded of Remus.

"Now we pry," he replied calmly.

"Pry?" she asked disbelievingly. "Remus, we are Prefects!"

Remus eyed her oddly. "And so what? Don't you want to find out anything about the Trident?"

"Why would I?"

"What if it comes in the first task?"

"It won't."

"How do you know?" he asked absentmindedly as he inspected the room. "They're probably hiding it somewhere..."

"They are obviously not going to hide it here!" she pointed out. "If it actually was here!"

In the end, after examining every last corner of the room, Remus had to acknowledge that the Trident wasn't there.

"It's not here. They must be hiding it for the Task, wherever it's going to take place... That means the Lake."

Lily sighed and leaned against one of the desks, running a hand through her hair. "Remus, stop it," she pleaded. "It's pointless. That Trident has nothing to do with the Tournament."

Remus looked at her with a pout. The Marauders' instinct was never wrong, and anyone implying the contrary should be subject of the next prank!

***

"Hey, there he is!" James exclaimed, elbowing Peter and Sirius. "Moony, where were you?" He stopped midway towards his friend as he realised that Evans was walking beside him. "Were you with her?" he demanded, eyeing them both suspiciously. Sirius and Peter came to stand beside him. Sirius frowned oddly while Peter's eyes travelled alternately between James, Sirius, and Remus.

"He was trying to help me find out any clues about the first task," Lily put in to break the tense silence. "We went to talk to Professor Binns."

"Binns?" asked Peter, mystified.

"But he wasn't there," she finished.

"That's what you were doing, is it?" Sirius asked rather coldly. "How interesting..."

James threw him a warning glance, which Lily couldn't fail to notice. She blushed brightly, and to get away from them excused herself. "I have some homework to do before my parents arrive," she told them. "See you later." And with that, she left the four friends looking at each other, ones with suspicion, and others with bewilderment.

***

Lily walked dejectedly back to Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle let her in at the mention of "Cauldron Cakes", and the spiral staircase took her to the very entrance of the office. Before she could knock, the Headmaster himself opened the door for her.

"Miss Evans, I was about to go fetching you. Your parents and sister are already here."

"Are they?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"A bit earlier than expected, but I'm afraid your parents couldn't wait to see you," he said with a warm smile. "Do come in."

Lily entered the room and was soon enfolded in her mother's arms.

"Oh, my Lily," she squeaked. The elder woman, who looked like an older version of herself except for her steely eyes, started to stroke her daughter's fiery hair. "How are you, my dear?"

"I'm fine, mum, thanks," Lily replied. She felt slightly light-hearted at the sight of her mother's kind gaze of rainstorm. It always made her feel safe and protected. "I'm glad you're here."

"Ah, the princess of the hour," a cheery voice boomed from behind her mother. Pierre Evans stepped to his wife Elisa's side to hug his youngest daughter. "My little winner," he said affectionately, "you grow more beautiful every time I see you."

Lily fixed her eyes to those that mirrored them in her father's handsome features. Although he had the air of a wild horse, his chin was sharper, like Lily's, and unlike Petunia's. Talking of which...

"Hi, Pet, Vernon," she greeted in what she hoped was a cheery voice. To say that Vernon and Petunia were terrified would sound euphemistical to her. They looked positively scared out of their wits. Petunia's eyes roamed around the room, eyeing each item as if it could suddenly spring to life and prance at her or her fiancé. Vernon looked mad more than scared. He had the air of a man who has just been told that he'd been living a lie his whole life and had been witless enough not to notice.

"Well, Elisa, Pierre," Dumbledore started. "Petunia, Vernon, I think we should go down to the Great Hall for lunch. The students will be already there. Hogsmeade weekends tend to make them hungrier than usual."

"Of course," Elisa said. "Thank you."

Mrs Evans threw Petunia a nasty glare, with which she started to walk towards the door, almost dragging Vernon along. This confirmed Lily's suspicions that they had been coerced into coming. An all too familiar conversation came to her mind. When Vernon was supposed to meet Lily, her mother and Pet had started a ferocious fight.

"I don't want Vernon to... to... meet her!"

"Why not?"

"Because... because... she's a...a..."

"There's no point in denying your sister's world, Petunia," Mrs Evans scolded her. "In her entering, we as her family enter too! Vernon will become family, then he will have to do the same!"

Lily hated it when her mother started on Petunia like that. Their fraternal relation was bad enough without her mother adding to the tension between them. Before she noticed where her feet were taking her, they reached the Great Hall, which was already crowded. To her dismay, Dumbledore took them first to the Ravenclaw table to meet Andrew and Mr and Mrs Banks. Contrary to what she'd been led to believe, the Banks weren't as aggravated as their son about Lily entering the Tournament. They called it 'just a competition' where what really mattered was to compete and learn, not to win. Andrew looked like he'd just been slapped, but he didn't dare to contradict his parents.

After that undesirable experience, they were taken to the Gryffindor Table. Petunia and Vernon were attracting curious glances. If they'd seen their faces, they would've probably known why. Dumbledore left Mr and Mrs Evans along with Petunia, Vernon, and Lily to enjoy a lovely meal. Petunia made a point to sit between her sister and her fiancé, although Lily found that exaggeratedly possessive and Mrs Evans found it very rude and unsophisticated. She wasted no time in telling her off between mouthfuls. Lily was left at the end of the line, which was what she intended. If she could spare her sister of talking to some other 'freak', as she called witches and wizards, then she would.

"Hey Evans!" a loud voice called from behind her. "Fancy some lunch, hu?" Sirius sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as he reached for the toast. "'Tis good," he mumbled after one bite. Lily blushed brightly. She didn't mind her male friends to show affection toward her, but in front of her parents, it was an entirely different matter. Sirius, apparently, had failed to notice she was not alone.

"Yolanda and Heather not talking to you yet?" he asked good-naturedly as James, Remus, and Peter joined them. They, however, did notice the odd stares they were receiving from a complete set of strangers beside the redhead. Remus cleared his throat to call his friend's attention. "What?" he asked, slightly annoyed at being interrupted when he was talking to Lily. Remus gestured toward the Evans family plus Vernon. Sirius turned to them with an arched eyebrow. His eyes fixed first on Mrs Evans' face. It looked oddly familiar. Then he caught Mr Evans' gaze, as green as an emerald. As realisation dawned upon him, he felt all colour drain from his face.

"Mum, Dad, this is my friend Sirius Black," she hurried to say. Mr and Mrs Evans nodded. "Those are James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew."

"Nice to meet you," Mr Evans said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, too, Mr Evans," Sirius replied shakily. Apparently, Mr Evans' amused glint in the eye was making him slightly uncomfortable.

"So you are the famous Marauders Lily likes to talk about," Mrs Evans said. "I suppose this is a great honour."

The four of them laughed lightly.

"This is my daughter, Petunia, and her fiancé, Vernon Dursley," she continued. Petunia's eyes widened with terror as Sirius and his friends approached to greet them.

"Good to meet you, Petunia," Sirius said, offering her his hand. She eyed it with something that was close to disdain and didn't take it. Not even her mother's fierce gaze convinced her to do so. Feeling awkward, he removed his hand and nodded in Vernon's direction. "Nice to meet you, too, Vernon."

Vernon merely grunted. He looked really angry. Mrs Evans sent an apologizing look in the four friends' direction before changing the subject abruptly. "So, Lily, darling, what's this I hear that you had a row with Yolanda and Heather?"

***

"Her mother looks just like her, except for the eyes."

"She's got her father's eyes."

"Shut it, will you?" Sirius snapped. James and Remus sniggered.

"Nice show you put up there. I'm surprised Mr Evans didn't hex you for touching his precious daughter."

"He doesn't look like a possessive father," Peter put in. "They all seemed really nice... well..."

"That sister of hers is odd," James said, scratching his head. "She was looking at me as if she wished I died a painful death."

"Not just you," Sirius pointed out. "She even looked at her like that."

"And that Vernon bloke," Remus commented. "Bit fat for my liking, isn't he? I'm surprised he ate so little."

"Probably thought the food was poisoned or something," Sirius said dryly.

James chuckled. "Seriously, Padfoot. You've got a tough family to win over."

"Shut up, Prongs," he snapped.

"Lucky you don't have to worry about that," Remus added, patting James on the back.

"Yeah." Sirius scowled.