The Unexpected Meeting
It was perfectly normal for this young man of fifteen to be outside the house on one unusually hot but humid summer day in the suburbs near London. He was outside on the errand of cutting grass, which apparently he had not been doing. Rumpling his very untidy, jet-black hair which stood in all directions, he set down the gardening shears he had in hand. "Here I am on a hot summer day, sweating like a pig and trimming the grass border of a crummy flowerbed like an spinster of an old muggle." He exclaimed despairingly as he brushed the sweat coming to his comely hazel eyes (Muggles are Non-magic people). He adjusted his thick glasses, which was slipping at the bridge of his thin nose. He looked side to side, then towards their old manor. Unfortunately, his mother was looking at him sharply, wanting to know if he really did his job. He sighed resentfully. Outside, this gangly boy seems to be normal but no. He is a wizard fresh from his third year from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He comes from a very old wizarding family, which means he has pure wizard blood in his veins. But right now, he seems like the boy next door cutting grass on his mother's flowerbeds. He looked again to the house and saw none was there. Letting out a frustrated cry, he abandoned his work and deftly climbed the shady and widespread oak tree. He balanced himself in a particularly comfortable branch and laid his back against the cool trunk. A warm soothing breeze made him drowsy and he shut his stormy eyes. How he wished he was playing Quidditch, the most famous game in the Wizarding world (six tall goal posts, four flying balls and fourteen players on broomsticks.) Back at Hogwarts, he was the Seeker of their House: Gryffindor. It was the Seekers job to catch the Snitch (one of the flying balls, least in size but fastest beyond compare) before the other Seeker catches it. And so the boy wished and wished as the warm wind blew about and then his eyes felt like lead. He struggled to keep them open but sleep won the fight and he dropped off. The next time he opened his eyes, he was already on his broomstick with the wind blowing full force on his face. He was two hundred feet above the multitude of Quidditch fans in the colossal stadium and he could see the blurs of his teammates as they furiously battled against the other team. Oh yes. It was the most glorious moment of his life. The International Quidditch Cup. Now, where was the Snitch? Suddenly he spotted a glint of gold at the very bottom of the field. Without any time to waste, he immediately began his dive for the Snitch regardless of the many risks he was taking. One, he might fall of his broom. Not an ordinary broom but the fastest broom ever made for him and only for him. Second, the Snitch might try to change its course and he might end up breaking every bone in his body. Third, the other Seeker might follow him and get the Snitch before him. It was an astounding sight to see! The awe-struck crowd went into violent paroxysms of hysteria as they watched him chanting ever louder for his name. "Potter, Potter, Potter." they shouted as one. The sound throbbed in his ears but he paid them no mind. He was near it! Only 30.20.10 feet away from his goal! Positively, the sound emitted by the crowd could shatter the very walls of which they were surrounded by. As he was about to wrap his hand on the fluttering ball of gold, now his fingers could feel the beating its wings; a strong voice louder than the rest screamed his whole name.
"JAMES POTTER!!!!!" It said and he woke up from his dream and unfortunately fell from the branch where he was sleeping straight into the mossy and frog-spawn filled pond behind him. Luckily, the pond, murky and slimy though it was, was deep enough so no bone was broken. He swam as quick as he could to the side and gagged water and frogs' eggs. His hands went to the bridge of his nose to adjust his glasses, but met none. Panicking, he fumbled blindly for his glasses. A hand held it out at him and he fitted them on. As his retinas focused, his gaze upward was met by the cold glare of someone. "MUM!!!???" he spat out, sounding rather shocked than grateful to the maternal figure. He was an inch taller than his mother was but he cowered before her. "WHAT WAS KEPT YOU, JAMES POTTER, WHEN I WAS CALLING YOUR NAME FOR THE LAST HOUR?" she screamed so loud it nearly split his eardrums. "I was trimming the grass Mum! I didn't do anything bad!" he replied meekly. "ON A TREE, JAMES? YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THIS FAMILY! YOU MOVE AS IF YOUR REAR WAS MADE OF STONE! YOU COULD HAVE BROKEN YOUR NECK! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU_" she yelled at him for what it seemed to be hours already. James however wasn't clearly listening to her sermons of you-are-so-on- and-so-forth and wait-till-your-father-gets-here-lines. Inside he was regretting losing the happiest dream he ever had. But his ears perked up as his mother said: "Now, you must go downtown and see to it that not one item on this list is missing. Don't come home if so. " She ended in a deadly whisper and stalked away. He looked at the list she gave him. About two feet long, cramped and miniscule. He kicked the large stone beside him but only succeeded in stubbing his own foot. Cursing in pain, he wished that a piece of good fortune might come on his way. Sodden, he went upstairs to prepare for a trip downtown.
"Oh for goodness' sake, Petunia! It's only cat hair! There's no need to be hysterical!" Screams and shouts were heard in the adjoining bedrooms of the Evans household at the precise time across London. Clearly, a cat was the cause of the bickering. A young girl of fifteen with a dark copper mane of wavy hair and eloquent emerald eyes was standing before her younger horse- looking sister with a sour face who held out a nightdress decked with black cat hairs. The culprit was purring comfortably against the fluffy bunny slippers of the redhead. "You know as well as I do that I am allergic to animals, Lily!" the younger one argued distastefully. "Get a grip! You're fine now! I don't see you wheezing like an old dog! Do it on your own." The other argued back. "Fine! I wont do it either! It your fault my dress is ruined." Then shut the door in Lily's face. "Fine!" she shouted then stomped downstairs to the inquiring stares of her parents. "You know you should understand Petunia more Lily. She's younger than you and despises animals of all shapes and sizes." Her father pointed out. "Your father is right, Lily." Her mother added. "But she's a pain in the _" "Watch the language!" Both her parents chorused. "Fine! Take her side then! I'm going now. I wont be back until tonight" Lily fumed and strapped her skates then went outside. "Fine! Take her side! I don't care! It isn't as if I only come home for two months in a year! What a bugger!" she mumbled to herself as she hopped on a bus heading towards the city. Noticing the uncomfortable heat, she realized that her hair was untied. Groping for a clip, she remembered she might have forgotten it on her bedside table. So she resorted in tying her hair with her handkerchief. Then she sighed. She might as well stay the whole afternoon hanging in the city than spend the stuffy day with people angry with her. Dropping at a stop several minutes later, she breathed in the city air. The lack of its freshness made her long for the crisp air of her school. She was also not your ordinary girl. She went also to Hogwarts, housed in Gryffindor. It was plain that she also knew of James Potter. In fact, she admired his skills in Quidditch and the brilliance of his mind. "Only a bit. Just an teensy-weensy bit." She reminded herself as her face went warm at the thought of him. He wasn't the one you might think of as handsome, with the untidy hair and bony look. Nevertheless, she liked him even just a bit. But the thing was she knows that he did not know she was existing. As the matter of fact, the four years spent in the same dormitory as he was still had not made him realize that fact. So much for expecting. Besides, she was a bit afraid to approach them. Well he two of them. James Potter and his best friend Sirius Black. For one thing, they were the most popular men in the school, getting at the top of everything but with a certain knack at disregarding rules. Second, they were both from old wizarding families. She was not however, being born from both muggle parents. One thing that made them not that understanding to her own predicament. Trying to fit in with the crowd and finding something to occupy her mind, she went in a large bookstore where it was much cooler. With books she felt much at home rather than in her school or at her own home. Grabbing the nearest one, she pulled up a chair and immersed herself in reading The History of Rome.
"Thank you and come again!" a cheery voice called after him.
"Yeah, yeah." He muttered back. Squeezing his way outside the establishment he wondered how could muggle people keep up with things. He spent more than four hours just to track down and buys every single item on the frigging list of his mother. Hungry and tired, he decided to go back to his house. But it was no small feat with five bulging paper bags, so the only thing you could see was the view at his side. What the heck! If only he could bewitch the bags to make it as light as a feather then shrink them. Too much wishful thinking. He heaved a great sigh and inched his way to the bus stop.
With an ice cream with her other hand and the book at the other, Lily skated as fast as she could manage. She neglected to have lunch and it was only when she noticed that the bookstore keeper lit the lights that it was late, almost seven in the evening. If only someone reminded her of the time. She regretted being parted away with the book so she bought it along with an ice cream to soothe her growling stomach. She hated the idea to face another night of bickering with Petunia and she closed her eyes to ward of the idea. Unfortunately, she collided hard with a wall and fell against the hard cobblestones of the street. It was then she heard the wall speak. She looked up and met the stony glare of James Potter.
Fortunately, his quick reflexes saved him from the humiliation of falling. Unfortunately, the one who crashed against him was not spared. Then he confronted the negligent 'muggle', as he thought Lily was.
"What where you're going will you!" he yelled, pouring all his frustrations to the girl. Lily mumbled an apology and stared at her toes instead. "Apologies doesn't cut it! Are you blind?" he said. "I said I'm sorry." She mumbled again but now frowning at him and his rudeness. "Yeah right! Next time try to knock off everything on your way, ok?" he sarcastically retorted and heaped more insults at her. This was too much for Lily. She raised her free hand and slapped it against his cheek. After a moment of silence she burst into tears. "You're being rude you know! It's not as if you're the only one without a problem here! To think I thought you were nice, James Potter, but you are not!" then she ran away. At the mention of his name, he turned to look at the retreating figure of the girl. He wondered how come she recognized him. She was somewhat familiar. He had seen her somewhere. He lightly touched the place where she slapped him. His face felt very much abnormally warm. Only then he remembered how pretty she was, with her fine copper hair and almond-shaped eyes. He shook his head then saw the fallen ice cream and a handkerchief on the cobblestones. He picked the silk cloth and noticed the initials L.E. embroidered there. He smelled up the fragrance of her rose-scented shampoo and once more looked at where the mysterious girl departed.
It was perfectly normal for this young man of fifteen to be outside the house on one unusually hot but humid summer day in the suburbs near London. He was outside on the errand of cutting grass, which apparently he had not been doing. Rumpling his very untidy, jet-black hair which stood in all directions, he set down the gardening shears he had in hand. "Here I am on a hot summer day, sweating like a pig and trimming the grass border of a crummy flowerbed like an spinster of an old muggle." He exclaimed despairingly as he brushed the sweat coming to his comely hazel eyes (Muggles are Non-magic people). He adjusted his thick glasses, which was slipping at the bridge of his thin nose. He looked side to side, then towards their old manor. Unfortunately, his mother was looking at him sharply, wanting to know if he really did his job. He sighed resentfully. Outside, this gangly boy seems to be normal but no. He is a wizard fresh from his third year from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He comes from a very old wizarding family, which means he has pure wizard blood in his veins. But right now, he seems like the boy next door cutting grass on his mother's flowerbeds. He looked again to the house and saw none was there. Letting out a frustrated cry, he abandoned his work and deftly climbed the shady and widespread oak tree. He balanced himself in a particularly comfortable branch and laid his back against the cool trunk. A warm soothing breeze made him drowsy and he shut his stormy eyes. How he wished he was playing Quidditch, the most famous game in the Wizarding world (six tall goal posts, four flying balls and fourteen players on broomsticks.) Back at Hogwarts, he was the Seeker of their House: Gryffindor. It was the Seekers job to catch the Snitch (one of the flying balls, least in size but fastest beyond compare) before the other Seeker catches it. And so the boy wished and wished as the warm wind blew about and then his eyes felt like lead. He struggled to keep them open but sleep won the fight and he dropped off. The next time he opened his eyes, he was already on his broomstick with the wind blowing full force on his face. He was two hundred feet above the multitude of Quidditch fans in the colossal stadium and he could see the blurs of his teammates as they furiously battled against the other team. Oh yes. It was the most glorious moment of his life. The International Quidditch Cup. Now, where was the Snitch? Suddenly he spotted a glint of gold at the very bottom of the field. Without any time to waste, he immediately began his dive for the Snitch regardless of the many risks he was taking. One, he might fall of his broom. Not an ordinary broom but the fastest broom ever made for him and only for him. Second, the Snitch might try to change its course and he might end up breaking every bone in his body. Third, the other Seeker might follow him and get the Snitch before him. It was an astounding sight to see! The awe-struck crowd went into violent paroxysms of hysteria as they watched him chanting ever louder for his name. "Potter, Potter, Potter." they shouted as one. The sound throbbed in his ears but he paid them no mind. He was near it! Only 30.20.10 feet away from his goal! Positively, the sound emitted by the crowd could shatter the very walls of which they were surrounded by. As he was about to wrap his hand on the fluttering ball of gold, now his fingers could feel the beating its wings; a strong voice louder than the rest screamed his whole name.
"JAMES POTTER!!!!!" It said and he woke up from his dream and unfortunately fell from the branch where he was sleeping straight into the mossy and frog-spawn filled pond behind him. Luckily, the pond, murky and slimy though it was, was deep enough so no bone was broken. He swam as quick as he could to the side and gagged water and frogs' eggs. His hands went to the bridge of his nose to adjust his glasses, but met none. Panicking, he fumbled blindly for his glasses. A hand held it out at him and he fitted them on. As his retinas focused, his gaze upward was met by the cold glare of someone. "MUM!!!???" he spat out, sounding rather shocked than grateful to the maternal figure. He was an inch taller than his mother was but he cowered before her. "WHAT WAS KEPT YOU, JAMES POTTER, WHEN I WAS CALLING YOUR NAME FOR THE LAST HOUR?" she screamed so loud it nearly split his eardrums. "I was trimming the grass Mum! I didn't do anything bad!" he replied meekly. "ON A TREE, JAMES? YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THIS FAMILY! YOU MOVE AS IF YOUR REAR WAS MADE OF STONE! YOU COULD HAVE BROKEN YOUR NECK! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU_" she yelled at him for what it seemed to be hours already. James however wasn't clearly listening to her sermons of you-are-so-on- and-so-forth and wait-till-your-father-gets-here-lines. Inside he was regretting losing the happiest dream he ever had. But his ears perked up as his mother said: "Now, you must go downtown and see to it that not one item on this list is missing. Don't come home if so. " She ended in a deadly whisper and stalked away. He looked at the list she gave him. About two feet long, cramped and miniscule. He kicked the large stone beside him but only succeeded in stubbing his own foot. Cursing in pain, he wished that a piece of good fortune might come on his way. Sodden, he went upstairs to prepare for a trip downtown.
"Oh for goodness' sake, Petunia! It's only cat hair! There's no need to be hysterical!" Screams and shouts were heard in the adjoining bedrooms of the Evans household at the precise time across London. Clearly, a cat was the cause of the bickering. A young girl of fifteen with a dark copper mane of wavy hair and eloquent emerald eyes was standing before her younger horse- looking sister with a sour face who held out a nightdress decked with black cat hairs. The culprit was purring comfortably against the fluffy bunny slippers of the redhead. "You know as well as I do that I am allergic to animals, Lily!" the younger one argued distastefully. "Get a grip! You're fine now! I don't see you wheezing like an old dog! Do it on your own." The other argued back. "Fine! I wont do it either! It your fault my dress is ruined." Then shut the door in Lily's face. "Fine!" she shouted then stomped downstairs to the inquiring stares of her parents. "You know you should understand Petunia more Lily. She's younger than you and despises animals of all shapes and sizes." Her father pointed out. "Your father is right, Lily." Her mother added. "But she's a pain in the _" "Watch the language!" Both her parents chorused. "Fine! Take her side then! I'm going now. I wont be back until tonight" Lily fumed and strapped her skates then went outside. "Fine! Take her side! I don't care! It isn't as if I only come home for two months in a year! What a bugger!" she mumbled to herself as she hopped on a bus heading towards the city. Noticing the uncomfortable heat, she realized that her hair was untied. Groping for a clip, she remembered she might have forgotten it on her bedside table. So she resorted in tying her hair with her handkerchief. Then she sighed. She might as well stay the whole afternoon hanging in the city than spend the stuffy day with people angry with her. Dropping at a stop several minutes later, she breathed in the city air. The lack of its freshness made her long for the crisp air of her school. She was also not your ordinary girl. She went also to Hogwarts, housed in Gryffindor. It was plain that she also knew of James Potter. In fact, she admired his skills in Quidditch and the brilliance of his mind. "Only a bit. Just an teensy-weensy bit." She reminded herself as her face went warm at the thought of him. He wasn't the one you might think of as handsome, with the untidy hair and bony look. Nevertheless, she liked him even just a bit. But the thing was she knows that he did not know she was existing. As the matter of fact, the four years spent in the same dormitory as he was still had not made him realize that fact. So much for expecting. Besides, she was a bit afraid to approach them. Well he two of them. James Potter and his best friend Sirius Black. For one thing, they were the most popular men in the school, getting at the top of everything but with a certain knack at disregarding rules. Second, they were both from old wizarding families. She was not however, being born from both muggle parents. One thing that made them not that understanding to her own predicament. Trying to fit in with the crowd and finding something to occupy her mind, she went in a large bookstore where it was much cooler. With books she felt much at home rather than in her school or at her own home. Grabbing the nearest one, she pulled up a chair and immersed herself in reading The History of Rome.
"Thank you and come again!" a cheery voice called after him.
"Yeah, yeah." He muttered back. Squeezing his way outside the establishment he wondered how could muggle people keep up with things. He spent more than four hours just to track down and buys every single item on the frigging list of his mother. Hungry and tired, he decided to go back to his house. But it was no small feat with five bulging paper bags, so the only thing you could see was the view at his side. What the heck! If only he could bewitch the bags to make it as light as a feather then shrink them. Too much wishful thinking. He heaved a great sigh and inched his way to the bus stop.
With an ice cream with her other hand and the book at the other, Lily skated as fast as she could manage. She neglected to have lunch and it was only when she noticed that the bookstore keeper lit the lights that it was late, almost seven in the evening. If only someone reminded her of the time. She regretted being parted away with the book so she bought it along with an ice cream to soothe her growling stomach. She hated the idea to face another night of bickering with Petunia and she closed her eyes to ward of the idea. Unfortunately, she collided hard with a wall and fell against the hard cobblestones of the street. It was then she heard the wall speak. She looked up and met the stony glare of James Potter.
Fortunately, his quick reflexes saved him from the humiliation of falling. Unfortunately, the one who crashed against him was not spared. Then he confronted the negligent 'muggle', as he thought Lily was.
"What where you're going will you!" he yelled, pouring all his frustrations to the girl. Lily mumbled an apology and stared at her toes instead. "Apologies doesn't cut it! Are you blind?" he said. "I said I'm sorry." She mumbled again but now frowning at him and his rudeness. "Yeah right! Next time try to knock off everything on your way, ok?" he sarcastically retorted and heaped more insults at her. This was too much for Lily. She raised her free hand and slapped it against his cheek. After a moment of silence she burst into tears. "You're being rude you know! It's not as if you're the only one without a problem here! To think I thought you were nice, James Potter, but you are not!" then she ran away. At the mention of his name, he turned to look at the retreating figure of the girl. He wondered how come she recognized him. She was somewhat familiar. He had seen her somewhere. He lightly touched the place where she slapped him. His face felt very much abnormally warm. Only then he remembered how pretty she was, with her fine copper hair and almond-shaped eyes. He shook his head then saw the fallen ice cream and a handkerchief on the cobblestones. He picked the silk cloth and noticed the initials L.E. embroidered there. He smelled up the fragrance of her rose-scented shampoo and once more looked at where the mysterious girl departed.
