[b][u]Chapter one: Holiday plans.[/b][/u]
"Ha-ha-haaaaaaa-choe!" I sneezed loudly. "Molly, do you mind? Stop tickling me under my nose with that jinxed quill!" My best friend, Molly Prewitt, giggled, and put her wand down. The jinxed quill fluttered to the ground. We were on the Hogwarts Express, heading for King's Cross Station in London, going home for the summer holidays. At this time, me, Molly, Emmaline Vance and Hestia Jones were fooling around a bit, trying to kill time. It was a long journey, but in some aspects to short. Only about an hour left, before we all would go separate ways for two months. We would not be seeing each other. We would write, sure, but heck I was going to miss the lot of them.
"Where are you all going for the summer holidays by the way?" Hestia asked us. She was seated opposite of me, next to the window, her legs pulled underneath her, her elbow resting on the arm rest, her head resting on her hand.
"Probably I'm going camping again with my parents in Wales" Molly said shrugging. "I haven't asked my mom yet though, but I can't see why we would do something else. We go camping every year at the same old boring camping site. It will be a disaster!" She rolled her eyes and made a face.
"At least you're going somewhere" Emmaline stated. "I'm staying home, as usual. I'd love to go somewhere at least once!" She let out a heavy sigh and looked out of the window, a sad look in her eyes.
I patted my friend on the shoulder. "If it was possible, I'd say you could come with me." I said. But my parents already booked five tickets for a cruise, and my sister insisted on bringing her boyfriend along." I made a face when I mentioned Vernon, Petunia's boyfriend. I didn't like him. To hot-headed. His neck was to thick, and then that stupid little mustache. I truly didn't understand what my sister saw in that guy. "Now let's hope I can avoid them on board. Shouldn't be to hard, right? I don't have to spend a cabin with them, thank God for that." Me and my friends laughed.
"So, apart from avoiding Tuney
and Verny," Hestia said while snickering "what are you
going to do on board?" My friend raised a perfectly arched eyebrow
suggestively, a mischievous grin spread across her face. In many
ways, Hestia was the opposite of me. A bit of a troublemaker, not
really bothering enough to pay attention in classes, often getting
late. But somehow, she passed her exams at the end of the year each
time, just by lending my notes mostly and cramming them into her head
the night before. But I still loved her tons.
I giggled. "Well,
what do girls when they go on a sunny holiday on a cruise ship? Look
for some nice guy and fall head over heels in love. Other than that,
some sight seeing, reading, scuba diving, y'know, that sort of
stuff."
Hestia laughed. "But you know that would break James' heart if you did that, right?" She said, slightly more serious now. "He's liked you for years, he wouldn't like it if you got back from the holidays all rambling about some guy you hardly know."
I made a face. "Oh yeah, sure, Potter likes me." I said with a sarcastic undertone in my voice. "That's why he put itching powder in my clothes and hair brush on April 1st. That's why he messed up my Polyjuice Potion last month during class. That's why he-" Emmaline broke me off in the middle of my sentence.
"Maybe he just does that to impress you. Maybe he thinks it's a good way to get attention from you." Emmaline stated. "Besides, he hasn't always been like that, hasn't he? And I do want to add, that I think that he has matured a lot this year. You could give him a chance, you know."
"Well, whatever he thinks, this is not the right way to get my attention, only if he wants to be jinxed by me." I said, folding my arms across my chest. "And the only time I would ever go out with Potter is when the Slytherins are going to love muggle borns and when my name is Easter Bunny. So as you can clearly see, it ain't gonna happen."
"Aw, come on now Evans, you know deep down that you want me." A to familiar voice said near the compartment door. I let out a heavy sigh. Great, what does he wants, I thought to myself. I slowly turned my head towards the door, rolling my eyes. There, in the doorway, stood the 'Marauders', or at least, that's what they called themselves. James Potter, Quidditch Captain, big-headed git. Sirius Black, Quidditch team member, position Beater, the heart-breaker of Hogwarts, and James' partner in crime, and in detention. Peter Pettigrew, short boy with a rat-like face, Potter's and Black's cheerleader. And then there was Remus Lupin. A pale boy who always had bags under his eyes, wearing shabby clothes, but nonetheless, the nicest one of the four. At least he didn't get into trouble that much. I leaned back in my seat, annoyed by their presence. "What do you want, Potter?" I snapped.
James just ignored the tone in my voice, walked in as his friends did, and squeezed himself between me and Molly, who was sitting right next to me. He ruffled up his hair and smirked. "You didn't have to go sit right on top of Molly, you know." I said, my eyes slightly narrowing. I pushed away his arm, which he had just laid upon my shoulders, and stood up, sitting between Hestia and Remus. At least he couldn't get at me when I was seated here. "And you still haven't answered my question. What do you want? "
James smirked again. "I was going to ask you something, but it seems like I have to do two things first before I am going to." He said. He leaned back in his seat, his head rested against the compartment wall before he continued. Hope he doesn't makes himself feel too comfortable, I though to myself, as he was clearly not wanted here. "First," he started "I'll have to use the Imperius Curse on the Slytherins and tell them to be nice to muggle borns. And second, I have to give you a new name. Hm, I have to say I do still prefer Evans over Easter Bunny though, but if you insist.." Oh great, so he heard us, I thought to myself, annoyed. James ruffled up his already messy hair again. I rolled my eyes as he did so.
"Fine, let me put it this way then." I snapped. "I will NOT go out with you, alright? You're totally the opposite of me, so get over it!"
James' smirk didn't fade. "Never had Chemistry before?" He asked. "Opposites attract, every one knows that. But it's okay. I'm positive you'll come around some day." I just simply rolled my eyes and crossed my arms in front of my chest.
At that time, to my relief, the train finally started to slow down. I quickly jumped up and pulled out my trunk from the luggage rack. Every one else got on their feet as well. I headed for the door, but James blocked my way. "Have a nice summer my Lily Flower, I will miss you." He said with a smirk, and before I, or any one, could stop him, he kissed my cheek and headed off the train. I boiled with rage. "Yeah, you better go quickly!" I shouted after him. "Before I'll hex you!" I stalked out of the compartment and off the train, quickly followed by my friends.
"Why would you hex him?" Molly said, to my dislike, in disbelief. "That was so sweet of him!"
"Just don't forget he acted like an arrogant
git before he did that." I said, still a bit angry. I stalked off
towards an archway where a man in a conductor's suite was standing,
letting people pass in groups of three's and four's, so they
wouldn't draw attention to the muggles on the other side on
platform nine and ten. I was anxious to get through. I hadn't seen
my parents since the Christmas holidays, and although I missed
Hogwarts a lot during the two month absence, I missed my parents
about just as much.
When it was finally mine, Molly's,
Emmaline's and Hesia's turn to pass through the fence, I ran at
full speed, dragging my trunk behind me. For a fraction of a second,
everything around me was pitch black, and then I found myself
standing between platforms nine and ten in King's Cross Station. I
stood on my tippy-toes to see if I spotted my parents anywhere, but
before I did, of course, my shepherd dog, Castor, noticed me first.
He ran up to me, barking and jumping happily as he tried to lick my
face. I laughed and scratched him between the ears. "Missed me so
much huh, ol' pal?" I said smiling. "Now c'mon, show me where
Mum and Dad are." Castor barked again happily and made his way over
to my parents. They were talking to some other people, clearly they
were wizards, seeing as older witches and wizards didn't quite know
how to dress like muggles, so their clothes were mis-matched.
My mom was the first to notice I was there. She smiled at her youngest daughter and pulled me into a hug. "Had a good term, honey?" Mom asked me.
"When are my terms not good, mom?" I asked smiling, hugging my mother back. "If you want to know my grades, they're good as usual. My friends are all good to, as are their families. I miss Hogwarts already, but I am also glad to be home." I let go of my mom and gave my dad a hug as well. I saw that Petunia was standing a few feet away, together with her boyfriend. She gave me a nasty look before turning and demanding Vernon's attention. Oh, so the holidays were going to be like that, I thought to herself.
"Shall we get going?" My dad asked me. He turned back to the unfamiliar family. Their son had just joined them. They were Potter's family, I now realized. I nodded once at him and gave his family a polite smile. "It was very nice and interesting to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Potter." I heard my father say to them while he shook hands with them.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. and Mrs. Evans." Mr. Potter said. "Have a nice holiday, and maybe we'll meet again on September 1st on the platform." They shook my mother's hand as well. Then me and my family walked off. But I could swear I heard James' mom saying to him: "So that was Lily, huh? You ought to treat her more nicely, she looks like a lovely girl to me." I smirked slightly and walked out of the train station towards the car, my dog walking close beside me.
