"Hurry now, dear," my mum said, ushering my brother Reynie forward. He pushed his trolley forward a bit, then looked around cautiously, sweeping his blonde hair out of his eyes. When he was sure no one was watching, he began causally strolled towards the wall separating platforms nine and ten. The trolley bumped the wall then pushed right through it, Reynie following suit.
"You go now, Emily, and I'll follow with Alex," said Mum, looking fondly down at my little sister, who was gripping her hand tightly. I gave a brisk nod, then turned my gaze determinedly toward the seemingly solid brick wall. After doing a quick 360 spin, I broke into a sprint, heading straight for the wall. I shut my eyes, tightened my grip on the cart handle, and braced myself for the hit of solid rock that I knew wouldn't come. Instead of hitting the hard brick, I slipped through the wall after my trolley. It felt rather like going under a waterfall and emerging on the other side.
The first sight I saw was the Hogwarts Express. I sucked my breath in, transfixed by the steaming red train. A small sign hung over my head reading Platform 9 3/4. I saw Reynie, hidden amongst a gangle of sixth year boys, all talking loudly and laughing as they pushed their carts towards the train. I scanned the crowd as I waited for my mum, looking for any familiar faces.
Jamie, one of my room mates and a fellow Gryffindor, was walking to the train with her mum. Her tightly curled dark brown hair bounced as she walked. I waved at her and she waved back, smiling.
I watched her board the train, impatiently tapping my foot on the ground. What on earth could be taking my mother so long! Just as I turned to the wall to poke my head through, my mum burst through, pushing a trolley, with Alex gripping her skirt tightly. Her small round face was pink and her wavy, light blonde hair was slightly disturbed from passing through the wall.
I looked quizzically and slightly accusingly at my mum. "What took you so long?" My mum had required that I wait on them and help Alex onto the train. I tapped my foot impatiently as my mother fussed over Alex's hair and straightened her shirt out. The train let out a shrill whistle, signaling five minutes until departure.
"We had to run to the car," my mum said a bit breathlessly. "Alex forgot her sweater, hat, and mittens." She pulled the hat down over her ears, grabbed each hand and wrestled it into the mittens, and thrust each arm through the sweater. Alex sighed, her pink cheeks growing even pinker.
"Yeah, forgot..." I heard her mutter under her breath. I smiled, clapping her on the shoulder. The whistle rang out again, and the crowd of people began moving towards the train. I recognized Lily's bright red hair as she climbed onto the train, followed by another room mate of ours, Nicole.
"Come on, Mum," I said urgently. "We need to go or we won't get a good compartment. We might have to end up sitting with someone like the Marauders!" I exclaimed, my eyes widening at the thought of it.
I grabbed Alex's hand and began pulling her forward through the crowd, pushing my cart with the other hand. My barn owl hooted curiously from his perch atop the trolley. I leaned forward, picking up speed. Alex had to jog to keep up with me, her blonde hair flying out behind her like a flag.
"Hold on, Emily," I heard my mum said irritably, steering Alex's cart around a small crowd of Hufflepuffs. I turned my head to her, about to point out that if I didn't get to the train in time, I might be stuck sitting with a bunch of yucky Slytherins, or worse, the Marauders, when my trolley hit something quite solid. It flipped from the force of the impact, spilling all of my possessions onto the ground and knocking me off my feet. Soren, my owl, squawked and flapped his wings, his cage laying sideways on the ground.
I looked up from my spot on the ground, feeling my face redden. Alex was looking down at me with wide blue eyes. She was uncomfortably shifting her weight, unsure of what to do. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone climbing up off of the ground. I quickly got to my knees and made to pick up my things, trying to avoid the eyes of the person I had so gracefully knocked down.
"Are you okay?" I heard an all to familiar voice say. I easily detected a hint of laughter hidden inside.
"Yes, fine," I snapped, irritably pushing a stray wisp of hair from my face. I gathered my books in my arms then pushed them back inside my trunk, closing it with a snap.
"Here," said Sirius Black, extending his hand. I ignored it, hastily clambering to my feet on my own. I heard the squeak of wheels behind me, and turned around to find my puffing mum grabbing Alex's hand once more.
"Emily, the train leaves in two minutes, you need to hurry," she said, a hint of amusements in her voice. Her eyes quickly darted from Sirius to me.
"Okay!" I snapped, avoiding her eye as I struggled to lift my trunk. The last thing I needed for her to think was that I liked this prat! I felt Sirius lay his hand over mine, and the trunk was easily lifted back to the trolley. I raised my eyes and our gazes met. His grey eyes sparkled with amusement, and his curly black hair was rustled from falling.
"You're quite graceful," said Sirius, grinning at me.
"Shut it," I growled, picking Soren's cage up from the ground.
"Really, though, are you ok?" he said seriously, the smile fading from his face. He raised his eyebrows, peering quietly at me. He brought his hand forward, overlapping it with mine on the trunk handle.
Ooohh, no, I thought. I am not going to be dragged into this. Sirius Black has a reputation. The longest he has ever had a girlfriend is two days. And the simple fact that he is a Marauder is enough to make me want to slap him upside the head! Who on bloody earth did he think he was, trying to drag me into this?
"Yeah. I'm fine," I said quietly, tucking my curly blonde hair behind my ear and moving my hand from under his. I adjusted Soren's cage and gripped the trolley handle once more. "I guess we better get on the train now, right?"
"Yes, that sounds great," said Sirius, stepping up to his own trolley. We slowly began pushing our trollies towards the train, breaking the thinning crowd of mostly parents seeing their children off.
We finally broke to the front of the crowd, just as the whistle sounded. I stepped onto the train after Sirius, lugging my trunk behind me. There was a rattle as the door shut after me.
Sirius walked briskly down the passage way of the train, me lagging behind him. I finally arrived, puffing, at the compartment in which Jamie, Brooke, Nicole, and Lily were seated. My face broke into a smile at the sight of my best friends, and I made to lug my trunk into the small room.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of me. I lifted my face, only to see my arch enemy, Rachel Baker, staring back at me. A Slytherin, she was known school wide for her evil antics. But the thing she enjoyed most was torturing me.
"Get out of my way, Rachel," I spat at her, attempting to push her aside.
"Oh, look, a free compartment," she said, looking inside then looking back at me. She gave me a giant smile, batting her eyelashes, then stepped inside. "Sorry, all full in here!" she said, then slammed the door. I glimpsed I friends' horrified faces as the door shut with a bang.
"That bat!" I exclaimed, staring in horror at Sirius, who had stopped to see what was going on. The train lurched under our feet.
"Come on, Emily, there isn't time to argue with her." I glared angrily at the door, crossing my arms across my chest.
"Then where will I sit?"
"You can sit with us if you want," he said quietly, his cheeks flushing a bit. "I mean, me and the Marauders."
I sighed. This is exactly what I knew would happen. But, maybe they weren't as bad as I thought at first.
"Ok," I huffed poutily, grabbing the handle of my trunk once more. Sirius led me a short way down the hall to a compartment at the very back of the train. I stepped in behind him, glaring at the Marauders already seated inside.
"Hello, mate," James said to Sirius as I sat down opposite him. "Hello, Emily," he nodded to me.
"Hello," I said, gritting my teeth. Sirius lifted our trunks to the railing above our heads then took a seat beside me.
"What brings you here, Emily?" Remus asked kindly. I glared accusingly at Sirius.
"Sirius wouldn't be a man and stand up to Rachel. She took the last seat in my mates' compartment!"
James sniggered. "Oh, really?"
"No," said Sirius exasperatedly. "The train had just started moving, and you know good and well we aren't supposed to be up when we are just starting to go."
"Since when have you followed the rules?" asked Remus, amused.
Sirius blushed. "I didn't want Emily to get in trouble."
"Sounds believable to me," said James, grinning.
"Oh, shut up," I said, giving James the evil eye. This is exactly why I didn't want to sit with the Marauders!
"How about I tell you about Emily's graceful moment?" said Sirius, cracking a smile for the first time.
"Really, Sirius, you don't need to tell them," I declared loudly, frowning at him.
"Oh, come on, Emily, it'll be fun," James said, giving a loud belch and screwing his pumpkin juice closed.
"Well," said Sirius, "she hit me with her trolley and it flipped on top of her."
"Stop it, Sirius!" I shouted at him, reddening. James sniggered again. Even Remus chuckled.
"Grr... That Sirius," I muttered under my breath.
Suddenly, there was a loud outburst from the corner of the compartment. I turned, surprised to see a stout boy with rat-like features cackling loudly. I recognized him as Peter Pettigrew, the boy who could be seen tailing the Marauders around like a hungry coyote. Personally, I think he is rather stalkerish.
Silence filled the compartment aside from his deranged laughter. It went on like this for several minutes, me and the other three Marauders staring at him, dumbstruck. He slapped his knee and even fell out of his chair, rolling on the floor. Then he realized that no one else found it quite as funny and he sat up, looking embarrassed.
"Excuse me," he said in his squeaky voice, "I was.. um, thinking about something that... happened the other day." His cheeks reddened and he clambered back into his seat, looking as if he was trying to blend into the wall.
"Anyway," said James, raising his eyebrows. Sirius turned a fit of laughter into a cough attack. Remus hid his grin behind a large book and I just sat there, very confused.
The witch with the lunch trolley came by, peeking in on the strange silence that had filled the compartment. We all turned our heads to her, Peter still hunkering down in his seat, not wanting to be seen.
"Anything from the cart, dears?" the witch asked, wheeling it a little closer. We all got up (except for Peter) and formed a small line behind the door.
When we were all seated and the compartment was filled with sounds of munching and smacking and the crinkle of wrappers, Peter started making odd squeaking noises, looking hungrily at our food with his beady little eyes. James sighed and sorted through his food, picking up a Cauldron Cake. He threw it, and it hit Peter between his beady little eyes. He squealed and tore it open, shoving it into his mouth.
"You're welcome," muttered James, rolling his eyes. I hid my grin behind my fist and settled down into my seat, finally feeling content.
This is my first Fan Fiction story. I hope you like it! I love constructive critisism, so feel free to voice what you like and what you don't. Please review!