Chapter Two – Magically Challenged

I had already woken up and practiced my form for maybe thirty minutes when Lily Evans walked down the stairs. "What are you doing?" she asked me, sitting in the armchair closest to me. I closed my eyes, rolling them under my heavy lids, feeling bothered with the fact that I could lie.

I sighed. But lying wouldn't work, she was the first person who had approached me and I could tell she wanted very much for us to be friends. And I wanted us to be friends. "I want my form to be perfect, so I practice every day. I-I want every swish, every flick, every loop to be perfect. Because I can't actually…" I trailed off, looking down at my hands. My mouth had opened, but the words were caught in my throat. … do magic…

"Well it seems I have some competition now," she mused. No, no not really. You honestly have nothing to be afraid of. But I laughed it off and went of to breakfast with her. We were probably of the first to finish our breakfasts, and we stood to leave. Lily had been going off about the start of the new school year and spewing tips I really should have been listening to. However, as we passed through the entrance, a group of rowdy boys entered and I found my eyes glued to one of theirs'. His laugh had dropped away and for that second, he stared back at me with an intensity I had never experienced before.

I tore my eyes away, smoothing down the front of my skirt, I shakily interrupted Lily to ask, "Those people we passed… They're in our year, aren't they?"

Lily turned her head back sharply and surprised me with a snort. Who knew? Lily Evans… snorting! "Oh them," she said contemptuously, "The marauders."

"Who?" I said, immensely confused. The Marauders? Sounded like a horrible type of mold…

"Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter," she said with vehement. I raised an eyebrow. "Troublemakers. Well not Remus. He's the only thing that is keeping them in check. Peter's a shy boy really and only does what Black and Potter says." I nodded, climbing up the stone stairway alongside her. "Then there's Black. I reckon you'll be seeing a bit of him. He's messed around with more than half of the girls in our school, and I don't doubt that he'll try to charm you as well."

"Oh really? Well he can try," I laughed, cracking a smile at Lily who was a couple steps ahead of me. It was odd, very odd. I had made my first female friend since I started schooling in Beauxbatons and was feeling the same comfortableness I used to only feel around family or the neighborhood boys I hung out with during the summer.

"Oh yeah, and lastly, there's Potter," she shuddered and rolled her eyes. It kind of looked like she was having a seizure. As we reached the top landing she continued, "Insufferable, bone-headed moron ever to attend Hogwarts!" she screwed up her face as if she could smell an unpleasant wafting odor and put her books down.

"Is he really that bad?"

"Yes! Honestly, he never stops badgering me! It's a wonder he ever has the chance to draw breath," she said in exasperation, "and.. and…" Her face turned beet red and I may be exaggerating, but steam seemed to spout out of her ears. "He's always pestering me to go out with him," she quivered in quiet anger.

"For how long?" I asked, grinning, resisting the urge to wiggle my eyebrows.

"Oh, I don't know," Lily said. She fixed her books and ink bottle so they lined up perfectly, "About six years?" My eyebrows had shot up into my forehead, but Lily had already turned her attention away to the front of the room as students started to slowly trickle into the classroom.

"Lilykins!" I swiveled to see one of the Marauders with his eyes fixed on Lily. Mine slid to the boy sitting beside him, the one that had caught my attention when exiting the Great Hall. He shot me a beautiful and lazy smile and I gulped, feeling suddenly uncomposed, my fingers nervously picking at my sleeve.

"James Potter," the other boy said after finally realizing I was there, holding his hand out for me to shake. I snapped over to face him and stuck out my hand to receive his.

"Er, Ambrosia Emerson," I replied, for he had seemed nice enough. My eyes trailed over to Lily curiously, but she was still facing the front with a set look on her face.

"Well, if you want, me and Sirius here can give you a tour of the castle, special treat of the marauders," he said jovially, then added, "Lily can come too if she wants. She knows we know more about the castle than any student or teacher at Hogwarts."

Lily scoffed, finally turning around. "Oh please, you're so full of yourself, Potter." James' friendly smile faltered and he looked a bit downcast and slightly lost.

"Um, yeah sure, definitely!" I said, nodding, "It'll be fun. Right Lily?" I elbowed Lily. She gave a 'myeh' sound, jotting down a couple of notes. I looked back over at Sirius hesitantly and found myself not able to look away.

"AMBROSIA!" Lily snapped. I blinked and turned abruptly, to face the front where Professor Clementine stood, looking at me expectantly.

"Uh… what?" I asked, dumbly. I heard Sirius snigger behind me.

"If you know so much about melting charms, then you can demonstrate to us your extensive knowledge on this subject." Professor Clementine said, expectantly, "Please, go ahead."

He walked up and placed a small sugar cube on my desk for me to demonstrate on. I stared at it for a while, then people began to whisper. Lily gave me an encouraging nod.

"Moltiatre!" I said clearly, perfect pronunciation, perfect form. Nothing happened. Obviously. I blink slowly, inhaling heavily before I tried again, "moltiatre." Again, nothing. I exhaled, humiliated. "I-I can't do it professor," I said, teeth gritted, "I can't do magic."

The class started talking, and the Professor had to yell for them to quiet down. "Nonsense, nonsense! You're a witch, you've been accepted into our highly prestigious school for magic. I'm sure you're just being a little hard on yourself," Professor Clementine assured me, "You've been placed in a whole new environment, I'm sure it was just nerves." I shook my head. If only it were true.

"I haven't been able to do magic for nearly five years," I confessed. A couple of people gasped, and several more laughed, thinking this was some joke. Lily stared at me, looking shell-shocked.

"So are you a squib?" one person asked.

"No, silly, she just said," another interjected, "that her magic stopped five years ago. It was there at one point. Squibs are born without magic, stupid."

I bent my head, embarrassed. It took a while before class resumed its teachings, yet people were still shooting me nervous glances as if my loss of magic was some disease. I was a bit scared to look at Lily. I wanted her to not care, but was too afraid to find out right now. I scribbled down random notes, not really paying attention and when class was let out, I hastened to leave, while leaving everyone else behind. Or so I thought.

Lily had raced after me and grabbed my arm, whipping me around to face her. "Ambrosia! Slow down!"

"Lily, let go. I don't want to explain," I said, exhausted. Lily let go, but still hurried after me.

"Yeah, alright," she said, "But… If you're skipping class, you better be prepared to have me tagging along." I huffed, but was secretly grateful for having her talk some sense into me. Skiving off classes on the first day? Mother would go mad.

When we arrived at our next class, Divination, all but a few seats had been taken and unfortunately, there were no open seats that were next to each other. I shuffled through the room, trying to make it to the back when I was yanked down into poufy stool next to Sirius Black. When he didn't release my hand, I pulled away, confused as to why he still had that smirk on his face.

"Settle down," the teacher called, "We'll be starting right away from where we left off last year, in palmistry. Partner up, and consult your books. Any questions, just come up and ask." I looked back at Sirius as he took my hand again and began interpreting my future.

He slowly ran his finger from my grandmother's old ring then down along my line of heart and I tugged my hand away, curling my fingers in to form a fist with my hand. It tickled. "Stop that!"

"I'm just trying to read your future!" he susurrated.

"Fine," I stammered, letting him take my hand again.

After a minute of him flipping through his book he whispered, "You're going to meet a tall handsome stranger today and fall hopelessly in love with him."

I paused for a moment. "That's hogwash-" I stopped when I realized how close together out faces were. "What are-" He had leaned in even closer so I moved back. "I guess Lily was spot-on about your reputation as a whore-hound," I said, outraged. I had never been subject to boys and their attractions. When I went to Beauxbatons there hadn't been any boys. Other than that, there were the guys I had hung out with in the summer, but I had grown up with them and our friendship was purely platonic. I softened my glare. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that," I murmured, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and looking around at a couple of people who had been listening in on our conversation and watching.

"No, and you probably shouldn't have," he said, but he was still smiling, "So you can make it up to me tonight by accepting that offer on James and I giving you and Lily a tour of the castle."

That evening, I dragged Lily out into the Gryffindor common room where Sirius and James stood waiting for us. Unbeknownst to me, my great mistake of the year was letting Sirius Black orchestrate the tour..

Okay, so I'm finally done with this chapter and I'm very excited for the next chapter. It's really where everything starts and if it turns out good, hopefully it's an omen that the rest will follow in the same fashion or something.