Disclaimer: I don't own Lily, James, the Marauders and all the stuff you recognise from the HP books. There. You happy now? Good. ((stalks off and eats chocolate))

Catch Me If You Can

Chapter One ll An Odd Platform

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"Mum, this really sucks," Petunia Evans said angrily, glaring at the yellow mound in front of her.

Rose Evans sighed; her now-thirteen-year old daughter had become so demanding. Well, what else could you expect from a teenager?

"Why does it suck?" she asked patiently, scrubbing the sink clean.

"Because you said you would make muffins for breakfast," Petunia protested, "But instead--" she eyed the plate of scrambled eggs in front of her menacingly, "--I got... this stuff."

"I'm sorry honey, but I didn't have enough ingredients to make muffins," Rose said distractedly, as she took some plates out of the cabinet and started setting them onto the breakfast table.

"Well you could've bought some," Petunia said, exasperated.

"Pet, need I remind you that you hate the muffins from Kathy's bakery?" Rose asked sweetly, smiling at her daughter.

"Err, yeah mum, but not as much as I hate eggs!"

Rose just shrugged, "It's the only thing you're going to get, so you either eat it, or starve."

"Fine," Petunia jumped out of her seat in a childish manner, "I choose to starve!"

She left the kitchen, while Rose chuckled and shook her head.

About a second later, a smiling Lily Evans walked into the kitchen.

"Morning mum," she greeted her mother, wrapping her arms around Rose's waist, "What's for breakky? Urgh! I thought you were making muffins."

Lily slid into her seat and reluctantly picked up her fork.

Rose laughed again, "That's what Pet said. Well, I couldn't make them, lacking ingredients. My scrambled eggs don't taste that bad, do they?" she added anxiously.

"No," the eleven-year-old admitted, as she wolfed down her breakfast, "I just don't like scrambled eggs."

Rose shook her head and murmured something about "fussy eaters" as Petunia bounded back into the kitchen.

"Mum! I am so hungry that I think I'm going to faint!"

Lily chuckled in between mouthfuls, "Not quite fond of the eggs yourself, eh Pet?"

"Nope, quite disgusting," Petunia agreed with a sigh, sitting next to her sister.

Rose rolled her eyes, "Okay, okay. I get it. Eggs; off the menu. But that's all for breakfast this morning, so make the most of it."

"I am," Lily said with her mouth full.

Petunia grumbled, "I'm making my own breakfast."

She took a box of cereal from the cabinet and began pouring it into a bowl. Rose put coffee beans into the coffee maker and began grinding up some caffeine.

As Lily drained her glass of orange juice, a creature flew in from the open kitchen window.

Petunia had just finished pouring the right amount of cereal into her bowl, and had just turned around to put the cereal back in the cabinet when she came face to face with the creature.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

As a natural reflex, Lily began screaming too.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Petunia screamed louder still as the creature swooped above their heads and landed with a soft "swish" onto the breakfast table.

"GIRLS!" Rose yelled over the noise, "Be quiet! It's an owl!"

"An owl, you say?" Lily said, looking confused, "Aren't they nocturnal?"

"Yes... I'm not quite sure what happened to this one, though," Rose said wearily.

"Cool!" Lily loved all sorts of animals. Except for spiders. Ick, she hated them.

"Come over here, little owly owl," Lily began to coax.

Petunia backed away, the big box of rice bubbles still in her arms, "Make it go away!"

"Don't be harsh," Lily told her sister, "It's got a letter. Now that is really odd."

Very carefully, Lily and Rose managed to take the letter away from the owl, which flew right back out of the window (with Petunia running around, screaming) as soon as it got a drink of water.

Rose inspected the envelope, "It's for you Lily. And -- um, it states where you sleep as well."

Lily took the letter slowly, "Ahhh, they're stalking me! They could be watching my every move now."

She gave the shifty eyes to the window and door, making Petunia and Rose laugh.

Tearing apart the envelope, and taking the letter out, she began to read out loud:

" 'Dear Miss Evans, we are pleased to inform you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.' That's one boring letter -- Witchcraft?! Good holy cake."

"Witchcraft?" Petunia repeated incredulously, "Now that is odd."

"Oooh, can I go mum, please?" Lily pleaded.

"To where?" Rose said, as she was very, very confused.

"This random school. Please?!"

Rose looked still terribly confused, and Petunia, terribly amused.

"Lily's a witch? Wow, that is soo... strange!" Petunia exclaimed musingly.

"All right," Rose looked up from the letter, sighing, "We're going to Diagon Alley. That is, if it exists."

"Where?!"

"It's a magical place where you can buy books and ... robes," Rose said, looking very increduous after another quick glance at the letter, "If it exists, we can be sure this Hogworms--"

"Hogwarts," Lily immediately corrected.

"--Hogwarts place does too. We'll finish our breakfast, do all of our chores and get dressed first. It's all the way in London, so we're up for a long journey. Pet, do you want to come too?"

"It all sounds really cool," Petunia admitted, looking fascinatedly at her baby sister, "But... I'd rather not. Rinatta's birthday party is tomorrow and I told her I'd help her plan all the last-minute stuff today."

Lily looked saddened, but brightened up when her olders ister said, "I'm sorry Lil. But I'll promise to get you an 'Oh My God, You're A Witch!' present, if such a thing exists."

Lily grinned, "Cool!"

"Okay," Rose said slowly, trying to digest all the information, "Back to your eggs or rice bubbles, girls."

"Aye aye, sir."

"Madam."

"Yes, madam."

--London--

"Oooh mum!" Lily cried, jumping up and down excitedly, tugging at her mother's sleeve, "It's here! That Leaky Cauldron place is here! Come on mum!"

Lily practically dragged Rose over to an old, run-down building.

"Are you sure, dear?" Rose asked, looking flustered.

"Yes mum!" Lily exclaimed. She pointed to a rusting sign with peeling letters painted on it, which read: 'The Leaky Cauldron'.

"Alright then..." Rose entered the building uncertainly, with Lily bouncing up and down beside her.

All the customers looked up as the two entered the small, dark and dingy pub. Rose and Lily crept past the tables and chairs and went up to the friendly-looking bartender behind the counter.

"Hello," he said with a grin, "The name's Tom. Are you going to Diagon Alley?"

"Yee-es," Rose said uncertainly, "How do we get there?"

"Follow me," Tom said, still smiling. He led Rose and Lily through the backdoor, and they found themselves in front of a huge brick wall.

Well, this is bright, Lily thought, wondering what was going to happen next.

Tom took out his wand, and tapped some bricks. To both Rose's and Lily's amazement, the bricks began twisting and turning, revealing the entrance to... Diagon Alley!

"Thank you," Rose called to Tom before an excited Lily swept her away into the busy streets.

"Wow!" the redhead exclaimed, looking excitedly around the stores and at the other witches and wizards jostling about.

"Mum! Mum! Can I get an owl?" Lily asked, trying to look at everything at once.

"Hold on, dear," Rose said, frowning as she looked at a passing witch's oversized golden coins, "I think we should get -- ... the right currency first."

After a lot of questioning to the other witches and wizards, Rose and Lily finally found their way to the wizard's bank, Gringotts.

"Oh my goodness, what have we gotten ourselves into?" Rose murmured nervously, glancing at the goblins.

"Maths freaks," Lily muttered, but immediately looked innocent as a goblin glanced sideways at her.

Luckily, they talked to a friendly goblin, who exchanged Rose's Muggle money for some Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.

Finally, they went off to buy Lily's Hogwarts stuff.

"Mum, I need robes," Lily said after awhile. The two were loaded with spellbooks, a cauldron, a wand, quills, parchment, potion ingredients and, courtesy of Lily, some wizard candy.

Rose made a face as she ate an unpleasant tasting Bertie Bott's bean, "Alright dear... oh look! You can go here; Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. I'll be at that magical creature store, okay?"

"Okay!" Lily said happily. She kissed her mother on the cheek and started bouncing (not literally) towards the robe shop.

The redhead was looking in awe at the other stores on her way to Madam Malkin's. Suddenly, someone came flying at her and before she knew it, she was pinned onto the ground.

"Ow!"

There was a boy sitting on her.

"What the--? Can you get off me?" Lily said huffily, trying to push the boy off.

"Nup; hey, this is a pretty comfy place," he said happily, grinning at Lily.

The boy had messy jet-black hair, hazel eyes and glasses. He was also extremely cute, but Lily didn't notice this at first. Or at all.

"Uh," Lily groaned as she tried to budge him off.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he asked as Lily gave one big shove and he toppled right off.

Lily glared at him, then began rubbing her waist as it really hurt. Well, she was pretty short, and having a great big boy sitting on top of you was not comfortable.

"Aww... I'm sorry," the boy said with fake sincerity, while saying this with a charming grin, "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Hey James! You-- yes you there!" another boy called cockily, running over to the boy who had knocked over Lily.

"What is it Sirius?" the black-haired boy asked. The one Lily had decided to despise, simply because he was an over-rated PRAT.

"Nothing," grinned the other boy (Sirius?), "Now, will you intoduce to this?"

"Excuse me, I am human," Lily said haughtily.

"You are?!"

Lily whammed him on the head.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Now, let me rephrase that. James, will you please introduce me to this nice, pretty girl that happens to be human, unlike the rest of the world's population of girls?"

Lily frowned at him as James sighed in a fake, pitying sort of way and said, "Nope. Such a pity. I don't know her, I just knocked her over."

Sirius sniggered, "Great way to introduce yourself, James."

"Introductories are for people," James retorted, not exactly thinking what he was saying. He turned to Lily and dipped an imaginary hat, "Good day to you, Miss."

"See ya," Sirius said, waving to Lily, then hurrying after James.

What an amusing pair... Lily smiled as she walked shrewdly into Madam Malkin's.

"Hello dear, Hogwarts?" Madam Malkin asked her, smiling.

Lily smiled as well (natural reflex; suck up), "Yes, thanks."

"All right then, just stand on this stool, dear," Madam Malkin said kindly, walking into what Lily assumed was the storeroom.

As shestood on one of the stools, she noticed a girl already standing on the other stool.

"Heya," the girl greeted Lily warmly. Her long brown curls made Lily envious. Why did she have to be so unlucky to be born with red hair??

"Hello!" Lily said back cheerfully.

"I'm Paige, by the way," the girl introduced herself chirpily.

"I'm Lily," Lily replied. Luck was certainly on her side. Making friends before even getting to school.

"Cool, are you going to Hogwarts as well?" Paige asked.

"Yup," Lily flashed a grin.

"Oooh, what House do you want to be in?" Paige asked in interest.

"House?" Lily asked, confused.

"Yeah..." Paige looked at Lily, frowning, then suddenly she seemed to understand something and said, "You're Muggle-born, aren't you?"

"Uhh..." Lily had no idea what she meant, "What's 'muggle'?"

Paige smiled gently, "Non-magic people. So I take it that you are muggle-born?"

As confused as she was, Lily smiled back and nodded.

Madam Malkin came back in, with a large box of robes in her arms.

"Alright, here are you robes, dear," Madam Malkin said to Paige, looking a little flustered. It was always hard on her when the rush for new first years came to get their robes for Hogwarts.

Paige took the box gratefully, paid, said thank you, said goodbye to Lily, and left the store.

Madam Malkin measured Lily, which took awhile, and, after a lot of muttering and thinking, they chose the right robes for her.

Lily sat down on the stool to have a rest, as Madam Malkin went in the storeroom for three sets of black robes.

"Here you go, dear," Madam Malkin walked back out handed a big white box to Lily, who thanked her and handed over some Galleons and Sickles. By that time, there were already two more kids in the shop waiting. Neither of them made any friendly gestures to Lily, so she kept silent.

Lily stepped out of the robe shop, immediately hit by the sunlight. All around there were people in colourful robes, all chattering away excitedly.

She stopped briefly outside a store called 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' to inspect a cool-looking broom in the window display.

They even fly on brooms. I wonder if... I'm dreaming...

Turning her head, she realised that James was in the store. He was looking right back at her. Very slowly, his face broke into a cocky smile and he waved to her as if they were the very best of friends.

"Jerk," Lily muttered to herself, turning her head the rest of the way and walking to 'Eyelops Owl Emporium', where her mother was.

"Hey, mum," Lily greeted her mother, who was looking at all sorts of owls in their cages.

"Hello dear, you got your robes all right?" Rose asked her.

"Yeah," Lily answered, also staring at the owls, "Oh, can I have that one?"

She pointed to a beautiful snowy owl.

"Alright then..." Rose consulted the witch behind the counter, and soon, Rose and Lily were out of the store, the owl with them.

"Now," Rose said, flustered, "All we need to know is how to get to that school of yours, Hogwarts, and we're out of here."

"It's so cool that this is all true, isn't it?" Lily asked dreamily, stroking her owl.

Rose smiled, "Yes it is," she dug out Lily's Hogwarts letter from her handbag.

"Hogwarts Express... King's Cross Station... September the 1st..." Rose murmured to herself, scanning the letter.

"King's Cross Station? We take the train?" Lily asked in surprise.

"I suppose so," Rose said uncertainly, "But it says you need a train ticket. And somehow I just don't think you can walk up to King's Cross and ask for a ticket to ... Hogwarts."

"Well, ask someone," Lily said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world (which it was.)

"It's not that easy, Lily," Rose protested.

"Oh, it is too!" Lily exclaimed, and she whirled around and said, "Excuse me!"

The boy passing by either ignored her or couldn't hear her. Lily clicked her tongue impatiently as her mother began to laugh.

"I told you it wasn't that easy," Rose said comfortably, "Oh hey! Would that be it?"

She pointed to a regular looking store with a painted sign that read 'Train Tickets'.

"Oh, I don't think so," Lily said sarcastically, "Come on mum!"

They entered the shop, and came back out with the precious ticket that had cost Rose exactly five Sickles and two Knuts.

"Oooh, mum, can I see?" Lily squealed, taking the ticket out of Rose's hand.

Lily read it with a strange expression on her face, "Err, rightio..."

"What's wrong?"

"It's this--" Lily frowned as she showed her mother her ticket, "--I have to get on the Hogwarts Express on Platform... Nine and Three-Quarters."

"Huh?!"

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---->A/N: Lily and Petunia are going to get along like regular sisters! No jealousy or hating between them! =] --MSQ.