- Chapter #1 -
Prelude to Another Bad Beginning
Lily's POV
I sat on my bed waiting for my best friend Gemma to owl me. After spending two whole weeks with my horribly boring muggle family, I was eager to accept the twins' invitation that had arrived only moments before to spend a week at their Godric's Hollow mansion. I mean - I love my family and all - scratch Petunia, but being entirely cut off from the magical world for two weeks straight was torture.
And that was why I hadn't even taken the time to walk downstairs to let my parents know I was leaving. I just went to my door and yelled quickly, "Mum, Dad, I'm spending a week at Gemma's! I'll owl you before I come back!" before replying via owl. It's not like my family would miss me too much anyway; they spend ten months without me every year! Another week wouldn't kill em'.
I decided to quit lazing around and pack my clothes. Before five minutes was up, I was all packed, and Gemma's jet-black owl, Onyx, soared through by bedroom window and perched on my bedpost. I got the parchment that was tied to her leg and read it.
Lily,
We're sending someone to apparate you here, since you can't yet and we've got no other way to get you here at the moment (Dad's away at the Ministry so we can't get a portkey).
He'll be there soon (probably 5-10 minutes). Oh – and make sure nothing, er… embarrassing is around; he'll be apparating to your room, so as not to bother your family.
I can't wait for you to get here!
Love, Gemma
PS – Please don't murder me, Lils! It's the only way we can get you here! Sorry!
I looked at the parchment in confusion and straightened up my room, as Gemma had instructed, while contemplating the letter. What was Gemma sorry for? Who was coming to apparate me to Gemma's? And why did I need to clean my room? As far as I knew Gemma wasn't a neat-freak, especially considering the disturbing state that her section of the dormitory at Hogwarts usually was.
Just after I'd picked up the last moldy ham sandwich off my floor, I knew why Gemma had apologized. A loud pop! signified someone apparating close by - into my room to be exact.
Eager for answers, I turned around to face none other than James Potter. James Potter – the infamous Marauder, the Hogwarts Heart-throb (well, to just about everyone except Gemma and I), the star Quidditch seeker, and my nemesis, my opponent, the one person that I absolutely loathed.
Gemma had sent James egotistical-conceded-bighead-that-thinks-the-world-revolves-around-him Potter to pick me up! I was going to kill her.
James' POV
My best friend Sirius Black rolled over with laughter as I slowly approached the ground on my Nimbus 1590. I had no idea why he was laughing so hard, though; I certainly didn't find it very funny when the fly flew into my mouth! But of course, I didn't really have much time to contemplate on whether the situation was amusing or not; I was busy choking up the stupid little bug.
"Prongs, Wow! That had to be even funnier than the time you got hit in the eye by a fly, and flew straight into Lucius Malfoy!" Sirius said to me as I hopped of my broom.
"Oh ha ha," I said sarcastically. "Shut it, Padfoot, or I'll be forced to inform Hogwarts of a certain incident involving you, Wormtail, and a bit of mistletoe, that happened sometime around last Christmas!"
That definitely shut him up. Poor Sirius was still scarred from the time he'd had to kiss Peter Pettigrew under enchanted mistletoe. Once you're under enchanted mistletoe, you can't leave from under it until you've kissed the person who got stuck there with you. In Sirius' case, this person was their chubby little friend, Peter.
Padfoot grimaced as he remembered. "Well don't take your anger out on me! It was their fault anyway!" Sirius motioned to the Waters twins, Gemma and Jenna, standing at the other end of the Potters' Quidditch pitch in Godric's Hollow. The twins would be in 6th year with James and Sirius after the summer was up.
Sirius had made a point. It was the twins' fault that I nearly choked to death on a stupid fly. Padfoot and I had been having a perfectly innocent Quidditch practice before those two showed up.
"James! Siri!" they'd yelled from below, "We need a favor!" I opened up my mouth to tell them to hold on, that I was just about to catch the Snitch, when it happened, 'The Great Fly Incident', as Padfoot had so kindly dubbed it.
So, naturally, I walked over to them. I needed someone to take my anger out on and, seeing as it was their fault that I was even angry in the first place, they seemed to be the perfect candidates.
As I took a breath and prepared myself to start my rampage, the twins flinched and used the only phrase they could to calm me down. "It involves Lily!" they yelled simultaneously. All three of us let out a breath we hadn't realized we'd been holding as the use of the name 'Lily' took its effect on me. I went into what could probably be described as a trance. Sirius called it 'The Lily Evans Drooling Session', which I wasn't too fond of.
Lily Evans, the only girl I loved, had ever loved. She was the most beautiful and utterly perfect girl at Hogwarts, and ironically, one of very few that wouldn't fall for my undeniably irresistible charm. In fact, she hated my guts, which was completely horrible; I was completely in love and obsessed with her.
"What about Lily?" I asked. The girls smiled. They obviously knew that I had a soft spot for Evans. They knew I'd do anything for her; I'd do anything to win her.
"We need you to apparate Lily to our place. Please, please, please, Jamesie!" Gemma begged me. Begging wasn't really necessary, but I enjoyed it all the same. Wait a minute! How did they know I could apparate at 16? "We have connections," was all they said when I asked. That worried me, but I brushed it off. I'd find out later. Right now I had Lily Evans business to worry about.
"Please James! You'll get to apparate to Lily's room."
I quickly agreed. I'd get to apparate to Lily's room! Finally! Gemma scribbled a note and sent it off to Lily while I went and took a shower. I couldn't let my dear Lily see me all sweaty, now could I?
Once I was all ready, I came outside and met the twins and Sirius. "You ready?" Jenna asked. I assured her that I was and breathed in deep.
I was nervous, no matter how calm, cool, and collected I looked on the outside. Lily did loathe me, after all. I wasn't sure how happy she'd be to see me in her bedroom. No matter how many times the rest of the Marauders told her, she still refused to believe that I actually liked her. She still thought that all the times I'd asked her out over the years were to torture her, or prank her or something. It hurt that she didn't trust me, but she did have fairly good reasons.
I sighed as I remembered all of the horrid things I'd done to her over the years. She particularly hated the whole incident in which her hair was charmed a nasty baby-poop-green color for a month, and the time I used Madame Stickin's Extra-Super-Sticky Potion to glue her head to her pillow, and… The list goes on and on.
"James!" Padfoot snapped me out of my thoughts. "You can't just do these girls a favor without payment, now can you?" Sirius had a point, once again, even though being in Lily's bedroom was plenty enough payment for me.
"Okay, then. You two have got to put in good word for me with Lily." The twins exchanged amused glances. "Okay, James. Whatever. Just go get her."
"Wait! He's not done!" Sirius shouted, and whispered something in my ear. A smile split across my face. Padfoot was a genius!
"You two have got to get your mother to remove the protective charms that are placed around your rooms," I told them. The twins exchanged glances again, though this time they weren't amused, but worried.
"Don't worry! We won't hex you or anything!" I assured them. "We can't. Remember, no wand magic outside of Hogwarts until we're 17?"
"We just want to be able to drop by whenever we want, to… talk," Sirius added. His comment only worsened the girls' expressions.
I knew they didn't want to, but the girls had no choice but to agree, if they wanted Lily, and they did. The four of us shook hands, and then I took a deep breath and apparated over to Lily's house, still alarmingly nervous.
Well, that's it! Chapter 1! I hope you all liked it. R&R, please!
::::Savanna::::