So, I've been wanting to write a Harry Potter fic for years... so I thought why not? (JK owns HP).
Chapter One;
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately," - Henry David Thoreau
There was a small, dirty-blonde haired girl standing by the barrier of platforms nine and ten, looking slightly troubled as she glanced from left to right at the crowds of busy people pushing past one another. The girl shook her head and placed a hand on the barrier, glaring at it.
"Is this some sort of joke?" She asked the wall, folding her arms in an aggravated manner. "I want to go to Hogwarts!" She knocked on the wall, as if it was a door to the wizarding world. "H-O-G-W-A-R-T-S. Can anyone hear me?"
"The wall isn't going to answer you," Came an amused voice suddenly from behind her. The girl turned at once, blushing furiously as she noticed a boy with unruly black hair smiling down at her, with a man and a woman- the boy's parents, she gathered, at his side. The boy had a trunk that was similar to her own, albeit the boy's was a lot glossier and newer and he also had an owl cage that held the most beautiful brown owl she had ever seen.
"Where are your parents, sweetie?" The lady asked with a kind smile. The girl instantly liked her.
"They've already gone through with my two brothers…"
"James, dear, why don't you help the girl to pass through the barrier?" The boy's mother asked happily, obviously delighted at the chance of seeing her son socialise with a girl. The boy, James, scowled but, relentlessly, grabbed hold of the girls hand and moved her so that they were facing the barrier. She stared, alarmed, as the boy started to walk faster and faster towards the wall, dragging her along with him.
"Are you mad?!" She screeched. She closed her eyes, ready to feel the painful impact of the wall crashing into her. But when the impact never came, she opened her eyes and gasped.
"It's beautiful." She said. She was staring, gobsmacked, at an enormous train that almost twinkled if one stared at it for too long. Around them, students were chatting excitedly to one another and their parents.
"It's just the Hogwarts Express." James shrugged. "Have you never - " He couldn't finish his question as his parents came into view.
"Where are your parents?" James' mother asked, looking through the crowds for anyone who looked related to the small girl.
"They said they were going to leave straight away with Gabe, Caleb's probably already on board."
"Oh…" James' mother looked at her sadly for a second. "We'll help you put your cases away." Soon enough their trunks were stored and the boy's parents hugged their son.
"Make sure you two sit together," The boy's dad called out when they both entered the train "It's very handy to have that first friend you make!"
The girl followed James, slightly in awe at the fact that the train was bigger than she could have ever imagined. The aisles were bustling with so many students, a lot of them hugging each other and asking how their summers had been. The boy stopped soon enough at an empty compartment and the train suddenly lurched forward, Hogwarts bound.
"Why were you talking to the barrier?" James asked when they had both settled down.
"Um," The girl blushed slightly and shrugged her shoulders. "My brother said that was the way to get into the station." Her cheeks were hot with embarrassment.
As she had guessed, James chuckled. "So you've lived with magic then?"
She nodded. "Both my parents came to Hogwarts but my mum was a muggle…" She said, not knowing how James would react to that. "We knew of magic… but mum and dad didn't tell us much about Hogwarts; said we had to find out for ourselves and have no one help us out. They said it would be better that way, that when we finally arrived at Hogwarts we could find things out for ourselves and make our own destinies. And then Caleb got his letter first, he got into Clawraven was it? Oh! Ravenclaw, like my mum and dad. And I tried to ask Caleb about Hogwarts, but he didn't say much… Then this morning he said if you speak to the barrier in the middle of platforms nine and ten… it'd open up and take you to Hogwarts." She was mumbling quietly now, knowing how stupid she must have sounded.
James couldn't help but laugh.
"It's not bad, is it?" She asked, staring out of the window at the fields that flashed by. "That my mum's muggleborn?"
"Course not," James smiled. He extended out his hand. "James Potter, at your service."
"Evelyn Acres at yours." She smiled, glad that she had made a friend. No sooner had the two introduced themselves that there was a loud bang from outside, followed by angry voices.
"You better watch where you're going!" A threatening voice boomed out. The two of them shared a worried look and suddenly ran from their seats to peek through the door. A tall and broody looking boy, surely in his teens at least, was gripping the collar of a small and petrified boy, his blue watery eyes shaking in fear as he mumbled out an apology and a squeaky 'I wasn't looking where I was going!'.
There were two witnesses; one girl, whom Evelyn instantly disliked, who was laughing and cackling and persuading the taller boy to take out his wand. The other was a young, black haired boy with dazzling grey eyes. Evelyn gulped as she felt her heart beat faster and faster. This boy was different from the other two, despite looking distantly related to the gleeful and sadistic girl.
"Come on Nott, stop it now." The grey eyed boy said, his tone hard and full of edge. "He's said sorry already."
"I'm gonna go and help." James whispered. He ignored Evelyn as she tried to grab his arm and pull him back to his seat. He opened up the compartment door with a bang and Evelyn ran back to the window. Her heart was racing as she listened to the commotion outside.
"Leave him alone!" James hollered. He walked towards Nott and glared up at him.
Nott just laughed, his actions followed almost immediately by the girl with the boisterous, curly locks. "You first years are so ridiculous. What has come of Hogwarts, that they now allow cowards and jesters?"
James and the blue eyed boy suddenly growled at Nott's accusations and suddenly everything happened so fast, like thunder and lightning. The blue eyed boy bit Nott's hand and Nott howled from the impact. The grey eyed boy then suddenly pushed Nott forcefully down the corridor, watching as he bashed into a compartment and James sent a hex towards Nott at the same time.
"You'll pay for that, Sirius." The girl glared and got out her wand, ready.
"It's three against one now," The blue eyed boy said with a tremble in his voice.
"Yeah," James laughed, although his wand hand was shaking. "The wisest thing to do now would be to walk away. And if you don't, then my friend in our compartment would come out too." James gulped. "You wouldn't want to mess with her, she's got the attitude of a fire breathing dragon and has already killed several trolls! And she's so brave she would equal to two people! Then it'd be five against one."
What the heck was James saying?! Evelyn shook her head, she'd never done those things. And she probably never would.
Then there was silence. She wondered what could have happened; did the girl kill all three of them? Did the three boys kill the girl? She crept up towards the door, which suddenly opened violently. She felt a person crash into her and opened her eyes in amazement.
"Hi," Her heart couldn't stop beating. The grey eyed boy smiled down at her and held out his hand to help her up. "I'm Sirius."
Later, Evelyn had excused herself to the bathroom. The four of them had been chatting for an hour now and she could still feel her heart beating whenever Sirius Black talked, blinked, moved or even breathed. James, Sirius and the other boy, Peter, had been chatting about what they knew of Hogwarts. Evelyn had listened to them all in great detail, but the talk was beginning to frighten her as she realised, again, how little she knew compared to everyone else. She made a mental note to find Caleb later on and tell him off for not helping his little sister.
There was a red haired girl waiting by the toilets; she was pacing up and down the aisle, muttering to herself and sniffling to herself. "Come on, Lily. Keep it together. Stop acting like a baby." There was no one else around and Evelyn didn't really know where the next available toilet was, so she cleared her throat quietly.
"Oh. Sorry." The girl blubbered, wiping her eyes quickly.
"Are you okay?"
The two girls stood by the toilets and chatted for what seemed hours. Her name was Lily Evans, she was muggle born but had already read 'Hogwarts: A History' and was extremely excited to be sorted into a house.
"But… I'm really missing home and my mum and dad." Lily sniffled and crossed her arms against her chest. "And my sister thinks that I'm a freak for getting a letter and coming here."
Evelyn decided she really liked Lily Evans, and invited her back to the compartment. The boys stopped talking loudly upon their arrival.
"Who's this?" James asked loudly, smiling as Lily entered the compartment.
"This is Lily Evans, my new friend." Evelyn said as Lily gave a shy wave. "That rude boy there is James Potter, but he's actually really lovely and friendly when you get to know him. His owl's called Nike and she's such a darling." James gave a bow. "That's Peter Pettigrew, he's really brave and bit this fourth year's hand!" Peter smiled and waved. "And that's…" She sucked in a breath, Sirius looking expectantly at her with an eyebrow raised. She coughed. "Err… that's Sirius Black… he's a uh… He's nice."
Sirius waved. "Yep that's me. Sirius, The Nice." He winked at Evelyn who blushed furiously, wishing she had said something a lot more cooler.
When the train finally haltered to a stop at Hogsmeade Station there was a crack of thunder as rain started to plummet down from the heavens. The big giant at the front of the station, however, seemed to enjoy the rain and eagerly called out that all first years followed him.
"Me name's Hagrid, keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Now, If everyone wants t' get in a boat. Four a boat! Then we'll be off ter Hogwarts!"
James and Lily suddenly grabbed hold of Evelyn's hands and dragged her towards a boat. James got in first, Evelyn second and Lily followed behind, trembling. Peter had gotten into a boat with a boy who had incredibly large ears, but still looked rather dashing and a snooty boy with platinum blond hair.
Evelyn looked around the docks, in the hopes of seeing Sirius. She hadn't expected to lock gaze with him, however, resulting in him to suddenly make his way over.
"Oh merlin," She muttered, turning her head away as a blush crept to her cheeks. The boat sunk a little, indicating the fourth and final person had come onto the boat.
"I'm Amos Diggory!" A happy chap said, his short brown hair looking very gelled to his scalp.
As soon as every student was sat in a boat, Hagrid flashed his lantern and suddenly the boats began to sail across the waters, passing a huge archway, countless bridges and across a ruined fortress.
"There are things in the water!" Someone shouted abruptly. There were strange green and blue figures, swimming across the boats and under them and then off into the swift sunset ahead.
And then they saw it. Right in front of the setting sun was the biggest castle Evelyn had ever laid eyes upon (first a magical train station, then the biggest train ever, James' beautiful owl, Sirius being the most handsomest boy ever…) and now Hogwarts. But Hogwarts was just… magnificent.
"Bloody hell." James gasped behind her. "Ev… look at it!" She grinned and caught James' eye. This was going to be a fantastic year.
Once they were at the docks again, a teacher with a pointy look about her lead them all into the castle.
"I'm Professor McGonagall, I teach Transfiguration and I am also the Head of Gryffindor house." She announced proudly, smiling slightly at all the students in front of her. "You will make your way to the front of the great hall where you will be all sorted into your house. I will return momentarily."
There was a murmur as the professor left; there was a sorting?
"My brother said we have to fight off a dementor!" An Irish boy with blond hair said with a shiver.
"Hey, Evelyn!" James came up beside her with a boy she had never seen before. He looked shy and worried, he gulped and messed with his sandy hair. "This is Remus Lupin, he's my friend." She smiled at James, the boy was so kind to everyone. Well, people who deserved it anyways.
"Hi," Remus said.
"Do you have any idea what's awaiting us in there?" She asked, nodding her head towards the large closed doors. Remus shook his head.
"I don't think it's a test though, I think it's more about who we are. You know, on the inside." Evelyn decided she liked Remus a lot too, adding his name to her mental friends list.
The doors opened and they were all lead into the Great Hall, four great long tables full of expectant students watched the newcomers.
"I'll call out your name alphabetically."
"Shit, Ev… that means…" James looked at her in horror and quickly squeezed her hand as her name was called and she tripped towards the stool.
The professor smiled at her and murmured 'no need to be worried.' And then placed a hat onto her head.
I remember your parents when they were sorted, yes. Full of academic spirit they were, had the knack to make it well in Ravenclaw. Your brother was right to be placed in Ravenclaw too. You however… There's a great urge to show how much you're worth. What you're made out of. Huge amount of bravery in you, hidden away inside… But I know you'll find it eventually. You value friendships greatly and I know that you'd do anything to protect them, even though you've only just met them. You think yourself worthless with no talent, but I can guarantee you that you will soon find many great things. In that case, you better be in..."GRYFFINDOR!"
**** (Fith Year) ****
Evelyn
"Evelyn!" Sirius Black, in all his sexiness, shouted out my name as he entered the Hogwarts Kitchens. His eyes were wide and he tried to catch his breath as he strode swiftly towards me; his cloak whooshing around him as if he were a Prince on horseback, the wind on his face, as he looked over his vast empire.
"Evelyn," He breathed again, now taking my hand into his. I was shaking, looking up into his eyes. Was this real? Was Sirius Black actually holding my hand and calling my name? I sucked in a deep breath and stared into his dreamy grey eyes.
He smiled and I hastily followed his action. "I've been looking for you everywhere! I really need you." He pulled my arm slowly and instantly my feet followed.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing; Sirius Black, my one and only crush, needed me? He had been looking for ME! I didn't know what to say, 'I love you too' or 'Yes, I will marry you'. He opened his mouth again and said- "Lily and James are fighting again." My grin disappeared, along with the hopes of me and Sirius ever getting together as a couple.
"Are you serious?"
He nodded and shrugged his broad shoulders, sending me a smile as he held the door open for me, bowing as I went through. "Lily looked like she was about to cry, so I thought some 'girl talk' might make her okay again."
"Oh…" I tried to hide my disappointment and allowed him to pull me through the corridor. As we walked through the castle, making our way to the Gryffindor common room where the fight was taking place, Sirius described to me what had happened this time round, and we both laughed together about how immature they were together.
Lily had lost some books and demanded James gave them her back, under the impression that the boy had stolen them as a foolish prank. "I can't really recall the entire story," Sirius admitted with a sheepish smile. "They were just throwing insults back and forth suddenly and I thought it was getting kinda outa hand. I mean, I'd only come back to the common room myself to get my robes since I'd mucked them up in Potions yesterday with that stupid wart draft."
"You don't want to go in there." The fat lady warned as we stood in front of the portrait.
"That bad, is it?" I asked, my eyebrows raised. It was only lunch time; most students hadn't even finished eating in the Great Hall.
"They're fine," Sirius said relentlessly, taking out his wand, "Just in case." He said with a lopsided grin. "Noble." The portrait opened, and we came face to face with the common room in utter ruins.
Sirius I and were silent for a moment, watching together in horror at what we were seeing. "What the bloody hell are you both doing?" I couldn't help but laugh.
There were feathers everywhere; there were a few books were scattered on the floor and on the sofa, with Lily and James standing by the fireplace, pillows in their hands. They were hitting each other with these pillows and every time the other got a shot, feathers would erupt from their pillow and would hit them in the face.
"Stop laughing," they both snapped at us when they realised they had an audience.
"James, you have feathers in your hair." Sirius said with a smile and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I tried to hide my blush.
"I searched far and wide to find Evelyn, thinking I'd need backup to hex one of you, and then we find you both having a pillow fight?!"
"This is not a pillow fight!" James said haughtily, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "This is a war!" He whacked the pillow against Lily's head, causing a flurry of feathers to blur her vision momentarily. She screamed in aggravation and pulled out her wand, sending a bogey hex to the stunned James. I cheered her on.
The common room opened and, thinking it was McGonagall, Lily and James stopped immediately.
"What the fuck are you guys doing?" Remus was speechless, dropping his Charms book on the floor at the destroyed common room. "Break it up now, you two! For merlin's sake, you guys aren't in first year anymore!" He pulled out his wand and bounded them both to the sofa.
"You're both fifteen years old! The year's only just started and you two are already bickering like an old married couple!" Remus paced up and down the sofas, sending the two of them glares as he continued scolding. Sirius and I snickered together quietly.
Ten minutes later, after his scolding had come to an end, Remus let the two of them go, Lily ran straight to the dorms without looking back.
"Told you she looked like she was going to cry." Sirius said once we heard the door slam.
"For the hundredth time, Ev... I'm fine." Lily glowered, shooing me away as she brushed her teeth.
"Sirius thought you seemed pretty upset. What did James say this time? You know you shouldn't take what he says seriously..."
"But that's the thing! He infuriates me! He's really nice to me one day; acting all nice and friendly. And then the next he's rude and arrogant! He's ALWAYS nice to you, Ev! He hates me! And yes, fine: I accused him of stealing my book, but he's done it on so many countless occasions that I just automatically assumed he had!"
Lily and James were either friends or enemies. Alice, Vicky and I liked to call them 'frenemies'. It had been like that ever since our first Charms lesson (which was our first ever EVER lesson). They'd been friends before it and then James and Lily had argued about the pronunciation of 'wingardium leviosa'... and then had become enemies until dinner time. During the first feast James had let Lily have the last slice of chocolate pie, resulting in them being friends again. See my point?
"He doesn't hate you." I rolled my eyes. "You're his friend."
"And being James Potter's friend," Vicky said as she came out from the bathroom. "Is good. He has loads of fit guy friends, and most of them are on the Quidditch teams."
"Vicky has an excellent point!" I clapped, giving Lily a nudge and a wink. "We're all adults now... well sorta. It's time to see what the male population at this school think! Especially you, Lily, and Vicky. You're both gorgeous."
I tried to hide the envy in my voice; they already got a lot of notice from boys. But we were all still waiting for our 'magical first kiss' moment, so I didn't feel too much like a failure.
"Isn't there a Quidditch try out this weekend? We should definitely go and watch it."
"Yeah," I said with a nod, agreeing with Vicky. "Gabe is going to try out this year as seeker, so I need to be there anyways to cheer him on." Gabriel, my brother who was a year younger than me, had joined me in Gryffindor, which I was most pleased about.
"Don't forget though we have History Of Magic tomorrow; Binns wants us there early because there's that test." Lily reminded us.
"How does Binns not die of boredom every day? How hasn't he already? He's been working here for like fifty years and yet the Goblin Wars are still as boring and uninteresting as ever. I swear one of these days that man will probably die in a classroom and it will be the most epic lesson ever." I hated that class, more so because Sirius was right in front of me and James was sat next to me. So that meant Sirius was always turning around to talk to James and I'd be there... having to look at that gorgeous face, not that I minded.
One dreamless sleep after and it was 7 am and the four of us made our way towards the Great Hall. Nike came flying down as I was buttering my morning toast, she, like all the other owls, carried the newspapers and parcels and letters that were sent to the students daily. I stroked her head and she plopped the mail in front of me, seeing as James wasn't down yet.
"Help yourself to some toast and milk." I said to her and she hooted happily. There was a letter for James and the newspaper.
"I swear," James said with a grunt as he and his friends plopped beside us. "That bird likes you more than me!" He called Nike over and fed her a bit of sausage.
"It's because she knows I'm lonely." I cooed at the owl which made Sirius snort.
James opened up his letter and then tossed the letter to me.
During my first year here the Potters had sent me letters full of wishes and hopes that I would enjoy the year and that during the summer I was welcome to come to the Potter's any time for tea. They were so kind and thoughtful and treated me like a daughter. I smiled as I read their letter, they hoped we had a good year and that James should try and injure the 7th year Gryffindor Quidditch Captain so that he could take up the title.
A short while after there was a murmur through the students as they glanced towards the teachers table; Professor Binns was nowhere to be seen.
Dumbledore stood up and hit his fork against his goblet, the large ringing sound made everyone suddenly quiet. "I regret to inform everyone... that..." He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Professor Binns passed away during the night."
My mouth gaped open, not believing what I was hearing.
"There will, however, still be History Of Magic classes. That is all." Dumbledore sat down, looking a lot happier than he should have been, seeing as one of his colleagues had just died.
My mind wandered back to yesterday, about what I had said. "Oh my God." I dropped my toast on Nike, she hooted angrily and flew away.
"Yeah..." James whistled lowly, all of us not knowing what to say.
"He was a fine professor..." Sirius said grimly, not two seconds had passed when Remus let out a chuckle. Alarmed, he had tried to hide it, but he couldn't help himself and was soon shaking with laughter.
"He was the worst teacher ever." Remus suddenly wheezed out behind his sleeve, tears of laughter running down his face.
So, we're not exactly the best students it would seem... needless to say, the topic passed.
I told the boys what I had said last night, trying not to look at Remus who was still trying to contain his giggles. One look at him would set us all off laughing again.
"You killed Binns!" Sirius gasped, throwing a tea bag at me in mock horror. "How could you. And to such an amazing senior!"
"You know," Remus was able to talk now as he swigged down some orange juice. "There are legends that say the halls and walls of Hogwarts are alive... And that they're always listening in on every conversation, at every second. Each and every conversation that has been uttered by students flow between the walls; even the past conversations and the present and the future. And they say that sometimes Hogwarts is so magical that when they hear your thoughts and wishes... it comes true."
It was such a drastic change in conversation, laughing about a dead professor and then suddenly onto the creepy history of the castle. We all looked at Remus, unable to say anything.
"As if," Frank said, breaking the silence that had fallen upon us all. "That's what Peeves would probably say to a first year to try and scare them off." The conversation changed again as one does, but for me Remus' words haunted me as we made our way towards History Of Magic... did Hogwarts really do that? Could it hear me, right now? Had it heard me wish about Sirius Black? (And if so; why hadn't it granted me the wish of having Sirius Black instead of killing our boring History teacher?)
Like normal, I sat next to James and Sirius and Remus sat in front of us. Lily and Vicky sat on one side and Alice and Frank on the other. Peter sat on the desk behind with a Hufflepuff he had a crush on. We were all talking, wondering about who would be our teacher when we felt the presence of a ghost come into the room. Some immediately put books over their heads, expecting it to be Peeves who was about to drop an unexpected dungbomb on us all. But then we heard the voice of someone familiar.
"Glad to see you are all here, ready to take the short test. It's about the Goblin Wars from 1066 - 1096. Answers that come back wrong will be discussed later on in the lesson." Binns was gliding down the classroom, as a ghost. He was so engrossed in his monologue about the great Goblin King Tritan to see our amused and shocked faces.
"Professor," One Hufflepuff girl asked with a gasp. "What happened? Are you alright, Sir?"
"Perfect!" The ghost said with a smile. He placed down his book at his desk. "Better, in fact." He circled through the air and passed through the wall like a dodgem, we could hear him gleefully hollering through the walls and then he suddenly returned. "I've always wanted to be a ghost. Now I can teach History forever!"
No one had ever seen Binns so lively, and it was unbearably ironic how he was now a ghost and so full of energy! Remus was giggling again, followed by the majority of the class. But Binns took no notice, he picked up his book again and finished his long drawl and then passed around the tests.
"Looks like we should all be careful about what we say then," Lily said with a grin as we stepped out of the classroom an hour and a half later. Sirius stretched his arms and groaned at his (and I quote) 'sore arse'. "Maybe Hogwarts is becoming alive and it'll hear things more often. We'd better be careful we don't wish for things that are bad."
Sirius stopped for a second and grabbed my hand. My heart thumped and it missed a beat as his thumb danced against my fingers. My stomach fluttered.
"You know what I wish?" He murmured, staring up at the vast staircases that were moving and carrying various students and ghosts.
I shrugged, wanting to know what he would wish for so much.
"For..." He breathed out and stared at me, I was unable to look away as he smiled. "Chocolate pizza."
His hand left mine and he looked around the corridor. No sign of a chocolate pizza. He sighed and called out after Remus. "Were you lying? The walls didn't hear a thing!"
Author's note:
Sorry if this first chapter was so long... I didn't know when to finish it, but I think this turned out well! Here's hoping that many of you enjoy this fic, just as I will enjoy writing it! If you liked it, leave a comment and see you in a few days maybe for the next chapter! Mucho love! (And I know there's always the curse of the first chapter; firsties are always so boring and uneventful so, please, bear with me.
