Title: Aboard the Hogwarts Express
Fandom: Harry Potter
Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, unfortunately. As much as I'd like to own Regulus Black, he is property of JK Rowling... [What does she do with the characters anyway?] Thus, I own none of this.
Characters:
Main; James Potter and Lily Evans.
Secondary; MWP and Alice Longbottom
Word Count: 907
Rating: K+/T
Summary: A short one-shot on the journey to Hogwarts. Set in the marauders sixth year. MWPP era. Lily/James. "Damn Potter! Tell your mates to stop making these stupid bubbles!"
Author's Notes: A challenge I entered over the summer and never did. This is a response to the Hogwarts Express challenge on the HPFC forum. James POV, third person.
Aboard the Hogwarts Express
Halfway through the journey to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, James Potter and the Marauders heard some angry yells and the footfalls of angry girls. One seemed to be telling the other to 'lighten up'. Sirius Black shook his hair and grinned at James. "Prongs, I think the love of your life is coming, and is angry about those bubbles we made float around the train!" Peter Pettigrew laughed, and muttered the incantation again. Neon orange bubbles exploded from his wand and floated out of the compartment. James sighed, the bubbles were going to attach themselves to the next human they came across. The prank was plain and simple, with no real risks that he could see; but Lily Evans, the girl of dreams, probably wouldn't see it that way.
Remus Lupin was a Prefect that year. He was currently patrolling the corridors by the first year compartment, where Sirius' blue bubbles had headed. He wouldn't get told of by the beautiful Lily, would he? It was just James' luck that one of his BEST FRIENDS was on good terms with his long term crush, and that MOONY was the only Marauder that Evans didn't yell at. James had almost considered cursing him a few times, but had come to the conclusion that the poor guy had enough on his plate every month, and the stress from being cursed by a mate was never nice.
"POTTER AND CO!" echoed a loud girl's voice, startling James out of his thoughts. "Please inform James that his Lily-flower is extraordinarily pissed off with him and will be entering your compartment to yell at you as soon as she is released from her headlock." Sirius smirked, and released a few more bubbles, motioning for James to do the same. Yellow bubbles joined the procession that was moving outside of the compartment and down the walkway. "Alice Smith, dammit, let go of me!" came the wondrous musical voice of Lily Evans, "Or, I swear to God, that I will bite you!"
"I love Alice and Lily!" Sirius grinned. "Their arguments and spats are quality entertainment..."
"...Provided you don't get too close to them while they're at it!" Smiled Peter, then he frowned. "That sounded pretty wrong." Sirius smirked at Peter, and then the two of them burst into laughter. James soon joined them.
It seemed like they had been laughing for ages when he heard a feminine shriek of "LILLLLY!" Sirius actually managed to look slightly serious, Peter went white and both of them turned to James. "Shit. We forgot about Evans!" James managed to pull himself together from his both panicked and love-struck state of shock. A second later, the door opened and the pale hand of Lily Evans entered the compartment.
"POTTER, BLACK AND PETTIGREW!" she yelled, as she stepped daintily into the compartment, wand aloft and pointing at them. Peter was cowering behind Sirius who had managed a cocky smirk, even though he was scared. Sirius had crossed Lily many times before, and he normally ended up needing to go to the hospital wing afterwards. "Yes, wondrous Lily-flower, of which my heart lusts after?" asked James, imitating Sirius. Sirius and James were very similar in the way they acted around girls, the cocky, happy-go-lucky, flirtatious way that made them get a bunch of fan-girls. Admittedly, Sirius' fan-girls were higher in number, but that was probably because James was after one girl and one girl only.
"What is the deal with these stick-to-you bubbles? Where did you find the charm? Is it an experimental-" asked Lily, in a voice a few decibels higher than necessary before she was cut off by Sirius. "Evans, we found it in an old book and tweaked it a little. It's done no harm." James had to admire how Sirius was taking it, but stopped when he noticed Lily's nostrils flaring in anger. "Touched it up? TOUCHED IT UP? Who did you test it on? Have you realised what effects it might have had? What about if someone walked into a lot of bubbles, and they attached to their face, over their hands and mouths? How would they breathe? EVER THINK OF THAT?" The three marauders turned to each other, their faces slightly pale.
Lily looked at their slightly shocked faces, then sighed and continued. "Even your harmless bloody pranks are dangerous... This means a possible detention, a definite word with Professor McGonagall". Lily glared at them, who were staring back in something akin to fear and awe, then left the compartment slamming the door behind her.
"Dude, did Lily Evans just swear?" asked Peter, opening his packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "Yeah..." answered Sirius, shocked. James looked at his two best friends, before contributing, "We need to work on that sort of thing in our pranks. Yes, for us potentially dangerous is fun", he cast a look at his slightly alarmed friends, "But that could have been a near fatal mistake. Yes, they do pop after about two minutes, but it still could have happened!" James sighed. "Accio sweets..." He picked a random sweet out of the packet. It was emerald green, the colour of Lily's eyes...But then he coughed and swallowed. "Sour lime jelly... worst jelly flavour ever!" James said with a gag. Sirius and Peter started laughing, and before long Remus opened the door and they started to 'recount their encounter with Evans' with him.
A/N: My prompt was "Bubbles" and the spell "Accio". Hope you enjoyed it!.
Please review to tell me how it went. Reviews make a fan-fiction author's day brighter, as it is the only payment they receive. Flames are welcomed and critiques even more so!