Chapter 1: The Beginning of The End

Chapter 1: The Beginning of The End

I sighed as I looked up at the scarlet and black engine of the Hogwarts Express. In ten minutes I would board it, on my way to my seventh and final year of Hogwarts. The last year of my amazing friends, beloved professors, top marks, of staying up late in the Gryffindor common room. I didn't really know what I would do after Hogwarts was over for me. It had been my real home for the past six years. But however sad this last year might be, it was at least my last year of...

"Hey, Evans," said someone standing behind me. I whirled around, startled. There stood a tall, admittedly rather handsome boy of 17. All his charm, however, was lost on me.

"What do you want, Potter?" I asked aggressively. Why, WHY is he talking to me, she thought. Oh great spirits of Hogwarts romance, what have I done to offend you so badly that I am cursed with the attention of this arrogant, conceited, very perseverant, big-headed toe rag?

"Why, Evans, all I was doing is greeting an old friend," Said James innocently. Yeah, right, Potter, innocent? Very funny.

"Oh, right," I said sarcastically, "'Friend'. Since WHEN have we been 'friends' and who forgot to tell me about it?" Arrgh! Eventually, he is going to drive me insane. "We are not friends, we never have been friends, and we most certainly never will be friends! Can I speak plainer?"

"More than friends?" asked Potter hopefully. Grrr. Apparently I could have spoken plainer. Let me try again.

"Potter, let me try this a different way. LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ooh, why is he so annoying? WHY? Can anyone explain it to me? No. No one.

"Fine, Evans. I won't bother you anymore," He said indifferently.

Just then Leyla came up. She's the type who gets straight O's, is witty, and seems to be just about perfect. Yet she has served over 300 detentions in her school career, and those who upset her have been known to receive the type of tongue-thrashing that leaves them sobbing in Madam Pomfrey's for hours on end. She is my very best friend. Now, however, she is frowning sternly at me.

"Well, Lily, I think you just broke the international Statute of Secrecy. I am sure that every muggle in King's Cross heard you yelling at Potter just now." She finished. I sighed.

"I'm sorry, Leyla, but you know how mad he makes me," I replied.

"Well, let's just go to our compartment. Alice is already there." She said, a little more gently. I cheerfully let her lead me to the compartment.

"Lily, it's great to see you again!" said Alice as soon as we walked in, "I would say it's great to HEAR you again, but I already did a couple minutes ago. Who on earth were you yelling at?"

"Sorry, Alice. It was Potter trying to be 'friendly' again.".

"You do realize that you have repeatedly turned down THE James Potter, right? The second hottest, second most sought after guy in 5th, 6th, AND 7th year? And would you care to explain why?" Argh! Why does she not get this? I realize that this is THE James Potter; that is EXACTLY why I consistently turn him down every time he asks me out!

I attempt to explain this to her.

Nope. Didn't work. I love Alice, she loves me and Jenna and Leyla, but Alice likes guys way too much for her own good. Honestly.

"I don't really understand why Potter likes me, anyways," I grumble. Honestly, there are probably 3 or 4 girls in the whole school who would turn him down, and he had to pick one of them. AND, that one had to be me. It isn't fair, great Hogwarts Romantic spirits! One of you must be Peeves...

"Lily, be serious. You don't understand why James is attracted to you?" She asked. I shook my head. Shoot. She obviously is going to give me one of her 'You-really-know-nothing-at-all-about-boys-but-I-do-so-I'm-going-to-tell-you' lectures. I hate those kinds of lectures.

"For starters, you are gorgeous. No, really. This is not up for discussion. Next, you have straight O's, except for the E in transfiguration. You are smart and funny. And to finish it off, you have never gone out with the same guy more than once. Why would he NOT want you?" She finished. Umm, hello! Because I don't want him. He knows that, couldn't he just give up already? I suggest this idea to Alice, but she shakes her head.

"Lily, why can't your incredibly capable mind understand this?" she asks exasperatedly, "The more you refuse him, the more he'll want you! Even if he goes out with other girls, the relationship won't mean anything to him! You two are meant to be, and eventually you will end up together." She finished with a pointed glare. Okay, then. Who made you "Ask Abby"?

Lily's Dream

I am in a small room, like a lobby. There is a sign above a desk reading "The heart of Lily Evans". Below it, there is a smaller sign that once said "Maps and Information", but it had been crossed out and it now read, "Find your own bloody way around; she's a teenager". My heart uses semicolons? Classy.

Since nobody seems to beon duty, I decide to "find my own bloody way around". There is a doorway, so I walk through and find myself in a hallway full of doorless doorways. Who has doorless doorways? Oh, right, apparently I do.

I walk through the first of the doorways and find myself in a sea of green. Green is my favorite color. There are green ribbons and green furniture and green pencils and green headbands and green televisions and green rabbits and green ponies and green nail clippers and green flowers and green crayons and green vases and green rings and green models of the planets Neptune, Jupiter, and Saturn. Everywhere, this shade of emerald green. Like my eyes. It's just a bit overwhelming, so I step out into the hall and go through the next room.

There is a little model of Hogwarts, complete with little miniature people. After putting Potter in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom (hee hee), I go to the next room. It is an enormous library, filled with books that range from recent paperbacks to antique leatherbound classics. I breathe in the smell of hundreds of old books before progressing.

Now I am in a pleasant room that resembles the Girls dormitory. In it are my friends: Alice, and Leyla, chatting and having a good time. I smile, but don't linger too long. The next room is full of Chocolate Frogs, chocolate bars, and chocolate shoes. Did I ever mention that I liked chocolate? Before I completely give myself over to temptation, I go to the next doorway.

Inside is a row of chairs, with an empty one at the end. In each of the chairs is every single guy I have EVER had a crush on. From that boy on the playground from when I was seven, to Peter Pettigrew back in first year (Cringe. I had forgotten. I was in FIRST YEAR! AND it was only for a month, and I quickly came to my senses.), to Gideon Prewitt in fourth year, to Fabian Prewitt in fifth year, all the way to my summer crush of a month ago, a muggle named Chris.

And then the empty chair. I look at the empty chair and notice there is a plaque on the arm of the chair. Hmm... Could be interesting... I look closer to make out the engravement... "Reserved for James Derek Potter"

"Lily! Calm down, It's Me, Leyla!" shouts someone, apparently Leyla.

"Wuzzgoinon?" I ask, confused. AAAAHH! James! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"Well, the trolley is here, and you're screaming in your sleep. Bad Dream?" she asks.

"An understatement. Do we have any Cauldron Cakes?"

After eating several cauldron cakes, I feel much better. Everybody is sitting around, looking bored, when Alice speaks up.

"So, we should have our goal planning meeting now. Lily, will you be scribe?" I pull out my wand.

"I'll go first. This year I am going to go out with a single boy for longer than a month." Alice announces proudly. If that happens, I'll be shocked. She has NEVER kept a boyfriend longer than 6 days.

"I am going to plan the most elaborate prank ever in Hogwarts history. Can't say much, but it will involve the Slytherins and some flying purple rabbits." Leyla says. If there is one rule in the world, it is never to let Leyla in a room with flying rabbits.

"What are you going to do, Lily?" asked Alice. I hadn't thought about it.

"I'm not sure. I'll leave it to fate." I say uncertainly.

"Oh, look! We're here." Leyla exclaims. We get off the train and head towards our final year of Hogwarts.