"Girl Got Game"
By: Liebling
Update On: 17 September 2004
Re-Vamped On: March 2006
Chapter Two
"So Much to Ask"
:-:
By the first of September rolled around, I was depressed.
Super depressed. I mean, uncle John even had to buy me a super-sized ice cream sundae before we got to King's Cross Train Station.
The car ride wasn't long, two hours at most. I had my legs sprawled all over the back seat and leaned against the window as fog rolled through the streets and raindrops fell against the window's surface. It rained for the entire car ride; it was like foreshadowing.
And I really don't like foreshadowing. It never bodes well in all of the stories. Usually the character dies, or gets diagnosed with terminal cancer or something.
At the very thought, I snuggled up into my navy blue sweatshirt that was at least three sizes to big for me, ("It looks more masculine," John assured me, "And it, um, covers more of…of, erm, that is to say, it doesn't make your…um, y'know, more noticeable,").
As I stepped out of the car and stretched my limbs, I checked my new—and masculine, might I add—watch that Jean had gotten me.
It read ten-thirty in the morning, just thirty minutes before I had to be at the platform. John came around from the other side of the car and looked despairingly at his ex-niece—a.k.a. ME.
I gave my best wide-eyed innocence look.
"Look, Lily," he said, holding both my shoulders, "I'm sorry—"
Sorry? Now of all times he's sorry? Where the hell was this attitude before I had fourteen inches of hair cut off?
"—but you know that I want the best for you. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the things we love—like Quidditch. And who knows? Maybe times will change by the time you graduate,"
"Hmm," I shrugged and apparently making him feel guilty.
"Oh, come now, Lily!" he rolled his head a bit and shut his eyes. "Don't give me that look! You're going to love this school! And the Quidditch program is incredible! You're going to love it there! I know I did. Besides, now you won't be distracted!"
I groaned again pathetically as he hugged me.
"Lily," he said quietly, still holding me, "If you don't want do this..." he sighed, "You don't have to."
Tempting, tempting...
"No, John. I want to do this. I want to play Quidditch. And I'll kick arse at it, too." I teased lightly, pulling back.
A wave of saddness, and perhaps envy, passed over John's eyes. "How bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes." He quoted to me.
I recognised the line from a performance I had seen one summer when I was at the Globe Theatre with my family. It's a quote from As You Like It which, ironically, is a story about a girl dressing up as a boy to escape persecution.
"Come on, I'll carry your trunk." He only carried it for about ten paces before he glanced at a rather large clock on the wall. "Oh bollocks! Is it half past ten, already?" he dropped my trunk, narrowly missing my toe, might I add. "I've got to be at work by one o'clock!"
"But I don't know where—!" I started.
"Oh, wait a second," he dug around in his coat hastily for a moment before pulling out an envelope. "Here's a bit of pocket money and your train ticket; it'll tell you everything you need to know. I'll get you that owl I promised you sometime next week. Must dash, bye Li!" and off he went…
Um, okay, thanks John. You know how much I love being in some foreign train station, all alone, having no idea as to where the hell I'm going.
Wait a second; did he just call me—? Oh, right…my "name"…
Oh my giddy aunt, I didn't even know where this pig-pimple place was!
With a defeated sigh, I opened the envelope that held several British Wizard coins for food, snacks, and drinks, plus a thick white and red coloured ticket that read:
HOGWARTS
Platform 9 ¾
1 September 1976
Departure Time: 11:00 A.M.
Arrival Time: 6:00 P.M.
Enjoy your ride!
Hold the phone.
Platform nine and three quarters?
I get it! This whole thing was a set up! Ha ha! Good one, John! I never knew you had it in you! I knew you really wouldn't do something this stupid!
Laughing out loud at my revelation, I turned to the truck only to see my dear old uncle John drive through the rain and into the fog.
Damn, people were staring at me.
I looked to the ticket again; Platform nine and three quarters, indeed. How charming. I let out this feral growl-like rumble before snapping to myself in a slur of angry French, "How the bloody hell am I supposed to get on the damn train?"
Turn away people! Stop staring at me! I am not some random crazy gi—boy, (excuse me) who shouts our random bouts of French, thank you!
I went into my huffy mode again and I planned to reach down for my trunk and drag it around for a while until I could come up with an idea. Before I could do so, I felt some one gently tap me on the back.
My immediate thoughts: OMYGOD! RAPIST! MURDERER! CHILD MOLESTER! SWEET MERLIN, SAVE ME!
Luckily, when I oh-so-gracefully (not) whipped around, I saw a friendly, yet tired, face with a head full of sandy coloured hair, cut similarly like mine.
Well, look at me; Lily Evans, trendsetter extraordinaire.
"Excuse me," A French speaker? I thought excitedly, "but I couldn't not help but noticing that you might need help. Are you in need of any assistance?" He smiled ever so slightly, but it was just enough to light up his amber eyes.
Good grief, he looks like he should be on a poster board somewhere…
…like in my room.
Yes, so while my heart was melting right then and there, I didn't noticed I was ogling. Only when I realised that he was waiting for an answer did I snap back into reality.
'Yes, of course I'll marry you and have your babies!'
Of course, I didn't really say that, but I wondered if he only spoke French.
"Uh...yes, can you tell me where I can find platform nine and three quarters? Please?" I said. Personally, I half expected him to give me a funny look for asking about such an absurd and ludicrous sounding question.
Or say, 'I love you, Lily Evans, you sexy beast, you'…or something.
The boy took a moment to study me carefully before, surprisingly, nodding and answering, "Yes, would you like me to show you?"
And we shall tell our grandchildren; 'Our first date took place at a train station!'
I let go of the breath that I had been holding and sighed in relief. I nodded in response and followed the nameless boy through the throngs of people. The boy spoke French so fluently and with no accent whatsoever that I could only guess that he was from some French speaking country.
Uber-cool.
"Comment t'appelle-tu?" What's your name? He turned and asked me.
I was just imagining what our children would look like for five or so seconds when I realised that I hadn't answered. I quickly said, "Oh! C'est 'Li''' Truthfully, I said it with a bit of mild pride—for remembering my, um, "name", that is…
It looked like the boy was about to respond to me, ('I don't care if you have to spend the rest of your life pretending to be a man! I shall always love you!' but all in French, of course) before some who seemed to know him called out to him.
"Oy! Remus! What'cha doin'?"
We both turned around. Holy sweet Merlin! Why do all of the Brits have such dishy blokes running around in their train stations?
The voice came from a tall handsome man with hair longer than most boys his age, but somehow, he really knew how to make it work for him. He was standing on top of his trunk with his hands cupped over his mouth to make the sound echo throughout the platform. People turned to stare at him, but seemed to overlook the disturbance that he caused because of the charm he seemed to unconsciously possess.
'I want to have your babies, too!'
I really should have my head examined by someone. Or learn how to talk to boys without turning into such a mess...
My mouth seemed to have slipped open without my knowledge and I quickly shut it the moment I noticed.
The boy, Remus as he appeared to be, recognized him and hollered back, "I'm just helping this guy out. Give me a moment, Sirius."
Sirius? Ha ha ha…that's just too funny.
Said Sirius nodded jumped off the trunk and Remus turned back to look at me.
This Remus guy knew English, too?
Super uber-cool!
"You're not French?" I looked at him surprised.
He gave me a funny look. Which I can totally understand. I mean, I am pretending to be a man for the love of Quidditch…
"You mean you're not?" said Remus.
We sort of just blinked at each other for a couple of seconds, both confused before we shared a common laugh.
"I'm sorry," I apologised unnecessarily, "I thought you only spoke French."
He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.
Sooo sexy…
"Is French or English your native language? You don't seem to have an accent in either." He began to walk towards his friends and I hoped that was an invitation for me to follow.
"I've lived in France all my life," I said, dragging my trunk along, "My mother was French, but my father was English so I picked up on both." I explained.
"Fascinating," he said, "Oh, I'm Remus Lupin, by the way," he held out his hand for me to shake. "Did you say your name was Li?" he asked once I had (slowly) let go of his hand.
"Uh…yeah."
"Interesting name, doesn't sound very French or English, though."
Eeerrrrrrrmmm….
I panicked and stuttered. "Uh—er, I, um, think it might be Chinese…"
"Chinese?"
"Yes, um, I think it means 'pear'…or something."
"Why would you have a—?"
"Reeeeeeeeeemuuuuuuuus! Your taking foreeeeeeeeeeverrr!" A voice called out. It was the one called Sirius and two other companions who had yet to be named accompanied him.
Good gravy they were the walking epitomes of stud muffins. Could I wrap them up and take them to go, please? Curse you, uncle John!
They trotted up to Remus and me and that's when I got a good look at them. It seriously was just one gorgeous boy after another.
Christ on a cracker, I hoped I wasn't drooling.
At first I had met Remus, and thought he was a rapist/murderer/child molester, but he was pretty cool with this mysterious and gentle characteristic that I felt quite drawn to.
Then along came that dashing Sirius fellow (ha ha, that's the funniest name I've ever heard in a long time. And that includes all the French women named Fred!) and he had brought over two friends, one was shorter than all the rest with some baby fat left over but plenty of room to grow. The next boy made me pause and think for an extra moment.
He was just as tall as Sirius—they could practically pass as twins! — He had a huge mass of unruly black hair that made him look like he'd been recently electrocuted, bronze-rimmed glasses that framed his hazel eyes that seemed just a little too cold, and just a little too dim.
I knew that look.
Heartbreak.
It's the same look Jean had after he had been rejected from the IQA. And maybe even after Donna had broken up with him after three years. I personally think he was more broken up about the IQA.
He didn't smile like the others and stared down at me.
I looked away as Remus spoke up for me, "This is Li, he's a wizard—no worries," he explained to the less informed, "Li, this is Sirius, Peter, and James—we're wizards too." He pointed to each of the correspondent people. They each responded to their name by either a nod or a wave of their hand.
Sexy No. 1, Uber-Sexy No. 2, Semi-Sexy No.3, and Mr. Heartbroken—got it.
However, out loud I asked, "How'd you know I was a wizard?"
"The platform number," Remus explained to me, "Only witches and wizards know about platform nine and three-quarters. Are you here to see someone off?" he asked me politely.
I wish…
"Oh, um, no," I fidgeted, "I'm going to the school…Hogwarts."
Their eyebrows rose.
Jeez, way to make me feel better.
"You seem to be a rather big first year…" Sirius gave me a look.
Do I look like I'm eleven?
"No," I said almost acidly, "I'm going into my sixth year." I shuffled my feet a bit.
Mr. Heartbroken scoffed.
"He could pass as a first year, he's short enough to be one." The boys in the backgrounds snorted a bit and laughed between themselves.
I swelled up in annoyance. Just because he was most obviously heartbroken, did not give him the reason to be rude! And I wasn't exactly the tallest girl in the world, and I can proudly say that I was roughly around 5'6, but was practically a midget compared to the four boys quite clearly over six-feet tall in front of me…
"Bite it, prat," I shot back.
The look he gave me, I thought he was going to eat me alive.
"Go back to the playground, kid," he stared hard at me.
"Why bother? I could beat you there as well,"
Oh, god, was I asking for it. The other three were already wincing at our little verbal exchange.
"Afraid someone would push you in the sandbox?" he snarled.
"Afraid your head won't fit through the platform with all the hot air?"
"Better watch your mouth, shorty!"
"Better piss off, dip-shit!"
Fists clenched, veins throbbed, and the tension high, the peanut gallery looked like they were watching a tennis match rather than a regular battle of wills.
Which, I so totally won, by the way. I guess I can hold a decent verbal exchange with boys without feeling sexually drawn to them!
"So…uh…" Sirius awkwardly stepped in between us. "The train leaves in ten minutes, so we'd better get on the platform. You know how to, right, Li?" he asked her.
"Um…yeah?" The clueless look on my face said otherwise.
He laughed.
"C'mon, you can go with me."
We walked only a short way, each carrying our respective luggage. I walked behind the four as they laughed amongst themselves about jokes that only they would understand.
Truthfully, I missed having that with my friends back at Beauxbatons.
I sighed.
And can you blame me? I mean, I was standing there, watching these gorgeous fellows as I remember that I will not be able to date until I'm out of school.
Life stunk and I had already hit rock bottom.
"Hurry up, shrimp, we want to get on the platform today, you know!" James hollered at me.
I'm sure he's usually a real charmer…
…when he's not PMS-ing, that is.
I snapped out of my trance and walked up to the brick wall between platforms nine and ten. I stared confusedly at it and turned expectantly to the other four.
"What do we do?"
"Watch," Sirius motioned for Peter and Remus to the brick wall. I watched them casually jog up to it together and I felt my eyes grow wide when I thought that they were going to crash. I was extremely surprised when they just disappeared. There was no 'poof', there was no smoke, and there weren't even any lights. They were just…gone.
Surely Hogwarts students just don't apparate do they?
That left me gawking right in the middle of these two twin towers and scratched my head.
"Um…?"
"Look, James and I will go with you. We'll—be still me beatin' heart! Who is that? Is that—Is that Alice?" he looked passed James and I and at some blonde hair blue-eyed bombshell and titled his head slightly. "I will be right back…James, you can handle this, right?"
Nooo! Don't leave me with Mr. Cranky-Pants!
"Wait, you dumbass—"
"Great, thanks, see you in a few." And he went flouncing off.
An awkward silence passed between us.
"Keep up, shorty," he pushed his trolley forward towards the wall.
Have I mentioned just how charming he was?
I quickly pushed my trolley so that I was next to James. The wall was approaching quickly and I glanced over at him, but he seemed not to pay any notice or care that I was scared spitless about crashing.
Gonna die, gonna die, gonna die, gonna die…
I was too close to the wall to come to a halt in time. I shut my eyes, but not before looking at James, and put in an extra burst of speed as I headed right for the wall. To my great surprise, I continued running and peaked open my eyes so that they were greeted to the site of a crimson train that read, 'Hogwarts Express' with dozens and dozens of carriages attached.
I made it through alive!
"Whoa," was all I was capable of saying.
Well, what an extensive vocabulary I've displayed.
People were bustling about, some already in their uniforms. A group of girls passed her and they giggled when I looked at them.
Wackos; I hope they don't think I'm—oh, right…Li…the boy.
I didn't notice as James walked off to find his friends because I was busy looking the uniforms they were wearing.
All I want…
The girls stopped walking and whispered to themselves.
Is to be…
I stared at their skirts with blue and bronze sewed on the hemline.
A regular teenage girl…
Sirius came running through the platform, just two feet next to me, unnoticed. He glanced at me, "Li" me, and then to the girls staring and giggling in my direction, and then back to me.
To just have fun at school...
"Yeesh, mate, you're already getting some attention and school hasn't even started yet!" Sirius nudged me and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
...and have a boyfriend...
The final warning whistle blew.
"Yeah…I'm going to get on the train now." I walked off.
Is that…
I dropped off my trolley and then dragged my trunk onto the train. I slowly looked around to see people hurrying around me trying to get a good compartment. People stopped and stared at me, (much to my discomfort) for a moment or two before moving on.
So much to ask…?
:-:
-:TBC:-
A/N:
Wow that was a fun chapter to re-write!
I'm really liking having the story told from Lily's PoV, because that way the story has more humour, and you see the, um, psychological issues that Lily has ^__ ^
R/R
Liebling