Mischievous Antics
By Artichokie

Night had descended rapidly upon the land. Glares of light glittered onto the ground beyond the train as it sped through the countryside. It was September 1st--the first day back for the older students at Hogwarts. It was the very first day the new students would step into the castle.

Lily Evans sat in the corner of a relatively quiet compartment. She had chosen the compartment out of pure desperation. She didn't know anyone, didn't know their customs--would they be different? Lily constantly asked herself--and was afraid to make a wrong move.

Her emerald green eyes surveyed the kids around her. They never once talked this entire trip. Normally Lily embraced silence. Now, however, she wished it would end.

The boy across from her was a mousy-looking kid with pale brown hair. At the moment, his head was lolling against the side of the train; his mouth was hanging wide open. It hadn't taken long after the train started moving for him to fall asleep. Numerous times, Lily had been tempted to kick his foot in order to stop his snoring.

Another boy sat next to him. That one slightly frightened Lily. His face had been darkened by a deep scowl when she had first entered the compartment. The only thing that had changed since then was that it was now concealed by more greasy strands of black hair. To her, he was what a vampire would look like. She hoped he wasn't one.

There was a girl who sat on the same side as Lily. She had curly brown hair with a pink bow accentuating her temples. Her eyes were cobalt blue and were on the large side. The thick-framed glasses she wore did nothing to help their size; the lenses only magnified them. Her face was tense, Lily noted as she watched the girl's hand fly across the pages of a notebook.

Suddenly, her eyes came up and caught Lily staring. Silently gasping, Lily jerked her head away, her deep red pigtails slapping her right cheek. She held her breath as she stared out the window, not really seeing it, hoping the girl wouldn't retaliate. Within seconds, the scratching of a quill on paper met Lily's ears and she instantly relaxed.

Lily closed the book in her lap, staring out into the inky blackness. She was ready to get off of the train. Having already changed into her Hogwarts uniform, she had nothing to do. She glanced down at her book. She could read again, but she was tired of reading.

If only Petunia could see her now!

Petunia, Lily's older sister, had always complained that Lily did nothing else. Lily loved to read; it was an ability she would never take for granted. Literature fascinated her.

Lily's eyes slowly drifted to the girl's notebook. She had always wanted to write, but never knew where to start or pick back up from where she left off. There were a couple of times when Lily had started to write in personal notebooks about her day, but she'd always stopped halfway through, not knowing how to continue. She envied the girl for her concentration abilities.

Beneath her, Lily felt the wheels of the train start to slow. Looking out the window, she noticed approaching lights and closed her eyes in relief. The sooner she got the school year started, the better.

Right?

It was several minutes later when Lily was finally able to step off of the train, book in-hand. All around her, kids were screaming and laughing. She felt confused and lost. Most kids, bigger kids, were walking in one general direction. She figured they knew where they were going and decided to follow them.

Lily hadn't taken two steps before she heard a deep rumble of a voice behind her. The voice was saying something, but it was not decipherable. She stopped walking and turned to see who was speaking.

A little ways down the platform, a tall man--at least twice as tall as the biggest student--was waving his left hand, motioning people to follow him. In his right hand, he swung a large lantern that lit up his face. Hair covered most of it--he was, by far, the hairiest human Lily had ever seen. His eyes were the only visible features on his face.

"Firs' years, this way!" Lily finally heard as the big man walked closer to her. "All firs' years, this way!"

Lily looked beyond him, wondering why she was supposed to go a separate way. She had heard about a ceremonial lake crossing briefly when she had boarded the train this morning. She wasn't at all sure what it entailed, though.

Shrugging, she followed the motion of his hand, pushing past the older students. As she got farther down the train, it became easier to walk. Lily saw a large, glassy black lake loom in front of her. A small group was forming at the end of the train landing next to the water. She assumed that was her destination.

She was right. A few minutes later, the big man had joined them. He pointed out several boats lined up along the shore, and instructed them on how many people were to a boat. Lily sighed and looked for the people from her compartment on the train. When she failed that, she resignedly walked to an empty boat.

Once she reached it, she stared at it. The boat was small, seemingly old. She was surprised it was still floating. There were no oars, and Lily was puzzled over that. Glancing back at the lake--which now looked like it went on forever--she could feel her fears begin to well up inside her. Surely they would drown!

A sharp tug on her left pigtail brought her out of her thoughts. She turned and glared at the boy behind her. He had black hair that wasn't exactly tamed. It looked like he had just awoken. His hazel eyes were half-lidded in a sly smirk that matched the tilt of his lips.

"You can get in the boat anytime, you know," he stated derisively. Lily nodded, stunned at his tone, and turned back to the boat. With the boy to her back, her fears instantly returned. Clutching her book tightly to her chest, Lily swallowed hard. By God, she wasn't sure if she could do this!

Before she could pull together her nerves, she was shoved from behind. Lily went flying forward, almost falling into the lake. Once more, she turned and glared at the boy with messy hair.

"Hey!" she shouted indignantly.

He just shrugged. "We're all waiting for you. It looked like you needed a starting shove."

It was then that Lily realized there were two other boys along with the first one. The boy to his left had a similar hairstyle as the first boy. The only difference was that this one was more elegant. His face spoke of an arrogance that annoyed Lily. He had one eyebrow lifted haughtily. She was already dreading her decision to go to Hogwarts.

The other boy didn't match the other two at all. Instead of the dark messy hair the others possessed, this one had light brown hair strands that were neatly combed. His eyes were lowered, but Lily had seen him glance shyly at her occasionally. She could feel the kindness roll off of him, and was immediately drawn to him.

She glared at the middle boy again. "I'm going," Lily said sternly as she turned back to the boat. Taking a deep breath, she lifted a foot off of the platform and reached it out to the boat. She felt the rocking wood beneath her foot and closed her eyes. She lifted the other and literally fell into her seat. Opening her eyes, she looked up and saw the first boy clapping.

"Well, it's about time!" he said as he casually stepped into the boat. He took a seat next to Lily as she stiffened. The other two boys followed him and took their seats across from him. Lily immediately felt uncomfortable, so she shifted her book and held it tighter to her chest.

"You're not at all graceful, are you?" the arrogant one mocked.

"Let her be," the light-haired boy snapped. Lily felt her fondness of this one grow.

The boy next to Lily chuckled before he turned his attention to her. "What's your name?"

Lily eyed him. "Lily Evans," she said warily.

"Evans, hmm?" He looked at the arrogant boy, smirked, and returned his gaze back to rest on her. "I'm James Potter. That, there, is Remus Lupin--" he nudged his head towards the light-haired one; "--and that is Sirius Black."

Lily nodded and turned to look across the water. They had started moving while James had been talking, she realized. She was more puzzled than ever.

Movement under the water caused ripples to appear on the glassy surface not too far away from their boat. The fear within Lily rose once more--something was in the water. More ripples appeared, along with bubbles. She forgot to blink as she stared at them.

A light touch on her shoulder caused her to jump. She glanced down at the hand, and then at the face next to it. James's eyes stared at her face, an excited glint in his eye, while the smirk was still in place. Lily decided then that she would die of shock if she ever saw any other grin color this boy's face.

"Do you know what's in there?" he asked excitedly. Lily shook her head in the negative.

"They say there's a giant squid that lives under the water," Sirius said. Lily swung her face to gaze at him. He wore the same excited expression as James.

"A giant . . . squid?" Lily didn't like giant-anything.

She saw James nod enthusiastically from the corner of her eye. "When my father crossed the lake in his first year, he said that the squid reached up and grabbed one of the kids. And they never saw him again."

Lily felt her eyes widen. She found it hard to breathe as she brought her gaze back to the water. She didn't want to die here, not yet. She was too young. Not only did she not like lakes, but she disliked boats even more. Unconsciously, she scooted closer to James.

Sirius and James's laughter brought her back to reality. Both had fallen over their knees and did nothing to hide their apparent amusement. Lily blushed. She knew then that she had been tricked.

Even Remus couldn't hide a smile as he told Lily, "Don't take it personally; they do it to everyone."

Lily nodded, red still staining her cheeks. She looked at the bottom of the boat briefly before she stared away from the trio. She was dreading this school term.

-Fin-

Please R/R.