NineteenYearsLater

“Hey cuz,” He said, leaning against my doorframe and smiling in a nasty manner. It was my step-cousin Neal. He was always acting like this; like he knew something about you that he shouldn’t. I glared at him, awake enough to know that he was a prick. Airus and the rest of them awoke as if given a signal and all started doing something threatening towards him.
James got prodded by Airus’ paw and he immediately took stock of the situation. He started growling and hissing in such a manner that Neal stepped away from the doorway.

“Sorry that I pissed off your cat,” He said, hands raised in surrender, “but your mom told me that you were expected for lunch and that she didn’t want you to be late.”

I grimaced; that meant that she had friends over and wanted to show me off to them. She always wanted to show off how well-behaved I was, for I was well-behaved. I shooed him away and shooed James and my pets away as well. (I never liked dressing in front of any of them.

I got dressed in a rather nice outfit, although I hated the feel of it, for it was a skirt and blouse. I walked quietly downstairs in contemplation of my situation. James had disappeared when I had banished him from my room, as had my other pets except for Capricorn, who sat on my shoulder. I was worried that something had happened to them, but I didn’t have the time to look for them right then.

I shoved my worries into the furthest corner of my brain and put on a fake smile; it was slightly cold and haughty, just like Mother expected. The lunch went well, even with hearing the snide comments regarding the Potters; “They think they’re so smart for defeating the Dark Lord, but I think it was just luck,” and other such lovely things. I bore it with a patience that you reserve for very small children who don’t know any better.

Finally, when I could feel myself start to get testy, Mother noticed and shooed everyone into our parlor. I was allowed to leave, since she only expected me to last through lunch, not also through drinks.

I strode to my wing, since no one else came around that area besides me unless they were looking for said person. (As I may have insinuated before, it was the forbidden wing of our mansion. I liked it there because everything was loved solely by me, rather than hated, like it was before I took over that wing. Maids didn’t even go in there, since they knew I handled everything. That was part of the reason I was so good at doing stuff.) Just as I entered the doorway to the wing, intent on reading more of the book, (I hadn’t finished, and this was a version I hadn’t read before. It was a bit odd, to say the least, since I had read all of the versions of it I could find, maybe it was making it up as I went along), the doorbell rang. I twisted around and stared at the door from the balcony, confused. I sent out feelers, trying to find out if I had to hide or not. (Some of Mother’s guests liked me less than others. I always found it best to hide from them when they made an appearance in the house.) I felt Stripe, Airus and Mal, telling me who it was at the door. I jumped the railing and landed with a thump, seeing as how I had just landed on our butler.

“Sorry Thomas,” I said to him, as I got up and offered him a hand up. He had a hand in my upbringing as well, so he smiled at me and forgave me.

“So what made you do that this time, Miss?” He asked me as we walked to the door. I gave him a smile.

“A friend of mine has come for a visit,” I said cheerfully. Thomas raised an eyebrow at that, but he knew better than to ask.

As the door opened, I saw James straighten himself up and I grinned. He obviously wanted to make a good impression.

“Hello James!” I exclaimed, pulling him into the house. He gave me a confused grin.

“Hey Lil, what’s going on?” He said, looking pretty casual for a guy who suddenly appeared in my room last night. (He explained to me, as I had kicked him out, that being an animagus wasn’t how he got in last night. He had done something else. The animagus thing he had been able to do since he was five for some reason, he didn’t know why.)

“James, I’d like you to meet my butler, Thomas Hardfeld,” I said to him, gesturing to said person.

“Hello, a pleasure to meet you Mr. Hardfeld,” James said, acting the part of a gentleman very well, “My name is James Everett.”

I gave a curious look and he shook his head at me. We showed him to a room in the west wing and agreed to just show him to my mother and hope she accepted him.

Once he had put his bags in his room, we brought him downstairs to the sitting room. (We were hoping she would agree to come away from her party to meet a friend of mine.) We sat there for a few minutes, waiting for Thomas to tell her of James, and then there Thomas was, leading her into the room.

“All right, Lillian Marie,” she said, sounding slightly annoyed, “who is this boy you insisted on inviting to our house without my permission?”

I stood up as did James, and I told her, “This is James Everett. He’s a friend from school. I thought it would be okay to invite him since I thought you were going to have a lot of parties, and James has always enjoyed them.”

(This was true, he was always saying how much fun he had during them. Not that his parents were the ones throwing them.)

She gave me a nasty smile, “Maybe he can help you like them then.”

I bit back a remark and grinned instead, “Maybe.”

She turned to James for her questions, “So are your parents purebloods?”

He nodded, “Yes, although my father thinks that he might have an uncle who married a muggle.”

I crossed my fingers behind my back and when I looked behind James back I found his to be in the same condition.

Mother replied with the most sympathy she had ever used in front of me, “Oh, I’m so sorry for that.”

“It’s ok,” James shrugged, “I never liked that uncle anyway, and since he’s disowned we don’t see him anymore.”

I couldn’t believe that James was lying like this to anyone, let alone my mother. And he was a pretty good actor too, since she was eating up everything and sympathizing. I decided to help him out right then before she asked him any questions about his opinions.

“Mom,” I said, just as she started another question, “I was just wondering if it would be okay if he stayed here for the summer? He wants to be somewhere else in case that uncle does visit, and I thought we would be happy to have him, what with his morals fitting ours so exactly.”

She nodded and sighed, “Very well, he may stay.” She turned to go but stopped, “But if I hear of anything going on in the west wing that sounds off I’m coming over to investigate.”

We nodded vigorously. She left. We went back to my room and sat on the bed.