DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I still do not own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with it, wishing does not make it true.
Genetic Island: Thanks for the tips! I'm glad you like Lily and James's parents and my story!
JkReviewer: Thanks for telling me about the review thing, and I can see what you mean about the "Oh my stars" thing. I watch Bewitched on tv and heard Samantha Stevens say it, and it kind of stuck with me. That show was from the sixties, but the wording and what not probably changed from the 60s to almost the 80s. Thanks for reviewing and I'm so glad you like my story!
Chapter 3: Journey to Hogwarts and the Welcome Feast
Lily was frantically awoken by a screaming woman on the rushed morning of September 1st.
"Lily Marie Evans! Up! NOW! We're going to be late if we don't leave very soon!" Crystal Evans yelled throughout the house while busying about trying to throw together a quick breakfast. "Of all mornings that I could oversleep…it had to be this one!" she could be heard mumbling in the kitchen.
Lily hurriedly jumped out of bed thankful that she had packed the night before. She ran to the loo and took a practically non-existent shower, just long enough to knock the dirt off.
She dressed quickly, putting on a pair of faded blue jeans with the knees starting to fray and a green t-shirt that made her eyes stand out, and, not to mention, she was very fond of green, it was her favorite color. She left her semi-wavy red hair down and put on a small amount of mascara and lip gloss, and began to drag her trunk and carry her owl, Lizzy, downstairs.
"I'd give anything to be able to do magic outside of school this instant." thought Lily as she finally succeeded in getting her things downstairs, with a few bruises as proof.
It was ten o'clock, the train left platform nine and three quarters at eleven o'clock, and it was a twenty minute drive from Lily's house. She desperately needed to hurry.
Lily ran into the kitchen and ate a small breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, sausage, and a piece of toast.
The rushed red head finished eating and asked her dad to help her carry her trunk to the car.
About fifteen minutes later, Lily, Crystal, and John Evans were heading to the train station to send Lily on her way to her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Lily, hun, you have a fun term, don't let James get to you. Maybe he's matured over the summer? Stay out of trouble. I know I don't need to say that to you, but most importantly stay safe and write often. We'll miss you, sweetie." said Crystal Evans fighting back tears. She couldn't help it, she always got teary eyed when Lily was about to go off to school; her daughter would be so far from home.
"Lily," John Evans said while stopping the car near a place to get a trolley, "Please take care of yourself. Especially so with all this business about Lord what's his name. I am going to miss my baby girl."
Lily sighed, she hated saying these goodbyes, they tugged at her heartstrings, but she replied hurriedly, "I love you, too dad, and you too mum. I promise to take care of myself, and I'll write often."
John Evans jumped out of the car and fixed a trolley for Lily with her trunk and bird cage on it.
Lily said a final goodbye, hugged her parents, and ran towards the area between platforms nine and ten. She still had five minutes before eleven. She was going to make it.
Lily ran through the barrier and immediately went to the train to drag her things aboard.
With that behind her, she went in search of her friends. Gina, Jenny, Brooke, and Taylor were all in a compartment about halfway down the train.
Upon seeing Lily, Gina got out of her seat to help Lily move her trunk, but when they tried to lift Lily's trunk, it wouldn't move! Both girls, giving it their all, were tugging, pulling, and lifting the trunk, but to no avail.
"Gosh, Lil, however did you manage to get this thing on the train by yourself?" questioned Gina slightly out of breath.
"It wasn't this heavy, earlier! I promise, Gina." replied Lily unaware of what was going on.
"May I be of assistance ladies?" asked a tall handsome boy with messy black hair while flashing a grin that nearly every girl fell for, except Lily.
"Potter! You did this! Take whatever spell you put on my trunk, off this instant!" yelled Lily getting angrier by the moment.
James pretended to look very hurt. "Evans, I was just in the next compartment and heard you two having some sort of trouble with something, and I thought I would see if I could help," said the hazel eyed boy while flashing another smile.
"Whatever," muttered Gina barely loud enough for James to hear it.
He looked at her, and then at Lily, and said, "Well, since I am here, at least let me help you with your trunk. You two fine ladies can admire my muscles while I'm at it."
Lily shot James a glare that specifically stated that she would like him to be anywhere else, preferably in the lake with the loch ness monster, but nonetheless, she replied, "Fine! Move it, and go away!"
James looked at Lily once more and wiggled his eye brows, "You know you just want to see my muscles and stare at my bum while I'm not looking."
Before Lily could hex him, James picked up the trunk, like it was light as a feather and put it inside the compartment.
Lily was raging. "Potter, get away from me, you, you imbecile! And for the record, I never want to look at you, your muscles or your bum!"
"Aww…Evans, I do something nice for you and this is the thanks I get?"
Lily huffed and went into the compartment leaving James out there with Gina.
"James," Gina whispered, "thanks for helping, even though I think you were behind her trunk being stuck."
James grinned and said innocently, "Who, me? Never…" and went back into his compartment with his fellow Marauders.
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James and Sirius had a much more calmer morning than Lily did. They were awakened early, cursing and mumbling under their breath, by one of the Potter's house elves, Lindy.
"Sirs, it's not gon' do ya no good to be a cursin' that way. It taint gon' 'complish nothing." replied Lindy disapprovingly.
James and Sirius just stared at her as if she had suddenly grown an extra head, secretly thinking, through their groggy thoughts, that she would pay for waking them up, one day….somehow.
Lindy ignored the looks, quite used to it after six years.
She gave them time to shower and dress, and then called the boys down to a magnificent breakfast. Bacon, ham, sausage, eggs, toast, pancakes, and fresh fruit. The two best friends were thrilled and vowed to never prank Sissy again.
Needless to say, James and Sirius ate the majority of the food on the table. Although, immediately after eating, they each ran back upstairs to their trunks in James's room to make sure they had packed everything and that everything was in order before they left.
The boys still had a few minutes to spare so they went down to say goodbye to Mrs. Potter. James's father was to be driving them to the station that morning.
"James, Sirius, I know this will go through one ear and straight out the other, but do try not to get into too much trouble this year." said Melanie Potter, emphasizing the "too."
James looked at his mother and then at Sirius and then smiled: "Marauder's promise," and made a motion of crossing his heart. Sirius did the same.
"Oh, you boys are just too much!" said Mrs. Potter through laughter.
Gary Potter walked into the room looking very tired and much older than he was.
"Dad!" exclaimed James, with Sirius mimicking him just a few moments later.
"Hello boys, all packed?"
"Yes, sir." replied Sirius.
"Uh-huh." echoed James.
James was excited that his father was driving Sirius and him to King's Cross. Since James's father was an auror, James never got to see him much anymore because of that evil git, Voldemort. He really missed his dad.
James was a spitting image of his father. The same black hair, same facial features, same body build, except his father had brown eyes and James had his mother's hazel eyes.
Gary Potter told James and Sirius that he felt that it was time to leave for the station. Mrs. Potter said a quick spell and both black haired boy's items were on their way to the car that James's father rented from the Ministry of Magic.
Melanie hugged James tightly and told him to be safe and that she loves him and did the same to Sirius.
The men of the house left and headed to the train station. The ride was filled with talk of how James's father was and what he had been up to, the parts he could share. James wanted to be just like his father. That's why his career he chose was to be an auror.
Fifteen minutes before eleven, the Potter men and Sirius arrived. Two trolley's were gathered and the boys were on their way behind the barrier.
Sirius wanted to give James some alone time with his father, so he said, "I'll just go ahead and get us a compartment."
Gary Potter told Sirius to have a good term at school and said he'd see him over Christmas or summer.
This time it was James who was wishing someone to be safe. "Dad, please be careful on the job. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you. I love you."
Gary Potter looked at his son and then hugged him tightly: "I promise I'll take care of myself, son, but you do that too, okay? I love you, too. Now, run along and go find Sirius and have a good term."
It wasn't hard to find Sirius, he had the compartment door open teasing Remus and Peter.
"I'm sorry, guys, but if you don't know the password, then there's nothing I can do. What if you guys are death eaters in disguise sent by my brother to kill me? Sorry, can't take that risk." said Sirius jokingly.
"Come on, Padfoot. Please? Pretty please, with a chocolate frog on top?" begged Peter.
"Hmm, as tempting as that is, no, sorry Wormtail, that's not the password."
"James, hey, do you know the password?" asked Remus, clearly irritated.
"Nope, can't say I do, Moony. But I can guess."
"Sirius is the king?"
"No, but I like that, good one, Prongs."
"Sexy Sirius?" said Remus.
"Nope"
"Sirius is god's gift to women?" asked Peter.
"Wormtail, now why would that be password? Everyone knows that!"
"The Marauders?" added Remus hopefully.
"No, but close."
"I think I got it, I think I got it!" squealed Peter.
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs!"
"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. Gentleman, you may enter. You obviously are not here to kill me."
"Don't be so sure about that," said James playing around.
The Marauders spent the next half hour talking about what they did over the summer, when a certain red head walked by.
"What do you say, Prongs? Shall we?" asked Sirius mischievously.
James nodded. Sirius said a quiet spell on Lily's trunk that would make it impossible to pick up.
The Marauders watched in amusement as Lily Evans and her best friend, Gina Parks, struggled with the trunk.
"Why don't they just use their wands?" questioned Peter.
"They probably haven't thought of that yet. James, go out there and play their 'knight in shining armor' and lift Lily's trunk up after a few minutes. I'll put a weightless charm on it." chuckled Sirius.
James did as told, but not after first, insisting that the only reason the two girls wanted his help was to observe his body. He pretended to be really hurt that Lily blamed him, but technically he didn't do it. Sirius did. He thought, "got to love those technicalities."
He "miraculously" was able to lift the trunk and not be hexed by Lily. But it was blatantly obvious he had annoyed her. He was pleased. He was even more shocked when Gina thanked him for helping. She still believed he was behind the prank, but he figured that she felt bad that Lily walked away without thanking him.
James grinned at Gina and said innocently, "Who, me? Never…" and went back to join his fellow Marauders in the compartment next door.
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Gina walked into the compartment after Lily only to hear Lily ranting to the Jenny about James "helping." Jenny tried to look concerned but her wanting to laugh won the battle.
Lily didn't look pleased that she laughed and glared at her for a second.
"Look on the bright side, Lil, he didn't ask you out." said Jenny, trying to make up for laughing.
Gina walked in and said hello to Jenny and asked, "Where's Taylor and Brooke?"
Jenny said while rolling her eyes, "Oh, with their boyfriends."
Lily, curious, asked who their boyfriends were.
"Taylor is dating that seventh year Gryffindor, Steven Cooke. You know, somewhat tall, blue eyes, dark hair. Normally on the rowdy side?"
Lily replied she thought she knew, and Gina said the same.
"And who is Brooke dating?" asked Gina.
Lily didn't care to hear, she did not care for Brooke all that much. She was full of herself and always so flirtatious, or so Lily thought. She really didn't understand why all the boys flocked to her.
Gina liked Brooke sometimes, she had her good and bad times. Brooke Burks was the kind of girl that wasn't afraid to stand up for herself or flirt with your boyfriend. She loved attention and would do just about anything to get it. She had medium length dark brown hair with blue eyes with a ring of gold around her pupils. She had a semi-dark complexion and a freckled face.
"Well, she just broke up with Justin Abberby she told me, and is now dating a Ravenclaw from fifthyear. Randy Destin. I think he is a chaser on their quidditch team." said Jenny knowingly.
Gina and Lily both really liked Jenny Flock. She was about their height with a dark brown hair color that was almost black, medium length just below her shoulders. She had brown eyes and was light skinned. She was very pretty. She was also one of the sweetest girls you could ever meet. Kind, truthful, and fun to be around.
The three girls chatted about various things before becoming sleepy and decided to take a small nap.
A little while later, Shawn Austin came by their compartment to ask Lily if she wanted to walk to the Prefect meeting together, but noticed Lily was sleeping. He woke her up and they were on their way. He noticed that she had been reading "Pride & Prejudice" by Jane Austen.
Lily asked Shawn to wait so that she could ask Remus if he wanted to walk with them, but Remus had already left.
The Prefect meeting was the same as always, describing duties and responsibilities that they would be required to fulfill this year. Nicholaus Tucker of Gryffindor and Samantha Orwell of Hufflepuff were head boy and girl.
Lily returned back to her compartment noticing Gina and Jenny were still asleep, and decided to finish her previous nap.
All the girls later were woke up by someone telling them to change into their school robes.
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Not much went on in the Marauders compartment unless you count their trying to charm the food on the food trolley to make everyone turn green and have purple spots. But apparently Dumbledore had thought of that problem and unless you bought everything on the trolley, any charm or such would not affect the food.
The Marauders were very disappointed to figure that out, so they bought their food, ate, and caught up on some lost sleep. They were woke up by being told to get into their robes because they would be arriving very soon.
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The train came to a halt where the students could transfer over into the seemingly horseless carriages. A call of "FIRS' YEARS, THIS WAY!" could be heard from the groundskeeper Hagrid putting the first year students in the boats and sending them on their way to the castle.
The Marauders found a carriage of their own, while Lily, Gina, Jenny, and Shawn found their own carriage too. The talk to the school was filled with eagerness ready to come back to everyone's home away from home.
"I'm really excited to try some of the spells out from those old charms books that Potter and Black gave me for my birthday!" said Lily happily.
"I'm ready to see those pictures you took!" said Gina.
"I'm just happy to be back with my friends." said Shawn.
"Oh, I guess it's my turn," Jenny said, "umm, I'm excited to be back and learning new spells, too."
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"Oi, Prongs, I noticed we only bothered Evans once the entire trip. Is everything alright?" asked a somewhat concerned Sirius.
"Yeah, It's fine. I've just decided to not bother Evans as much this year. I'd like to become friends with her, so she can see a different side of me, and maybe even love me one day." replied James with a look of determination on his handsome face.
"I think that is a grand idea," said Remus, "I'm proud of you for deciding that on your own. That's very mature, James. And maybe to help you out a little more, her name is 'Lily.' Try calling her that."
Peter was silent on that subject but blurted out, "Man, I'm starving!"
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The carriages finally reached Hogwarts on the brink of nightfall. The sky was a combination of black, red, orange, pink, and blue. All students, except first years, got out of the carriages and made their way into the Great Hall. Lily was starving, as were her other companions. And the Marauders, their stomachs were like black holes, never were completely filled, so they were beyond starving, or so they claimed.
The Gryffindors made their way to their table and sat down waiting for the sorting to commence. Lily noticed that since the incident involving Potter on the train, he had left her alone. She thought it was peaceful. He wasn't even sitting next to her, but he was still close in proximity. Lily thought it odd that she even thought of that, but she had got so used to him pestering her every chance he got. She could definitely get used to this.
A line of first years filed into the great hall with looks of utter terror on their faces.
Professor Minerva McGonagall brought a three legged stool out and sat a tattered looking hat upon it. Soon after the hat was set down, it broke out into song:
Dark times ahead, no doubt of that
Where to put you, I'm just a hat
But put me on, and I will see
The house that belongs with he or she
Those that want loyal friends that are true
Hufflepuff is the place for you
Those that have good minds and are smart
Ravenclaw is the place to put your heart
Those that are cunning and are clever
Slytherin will give you ties that will never sever
Those that are brave and also bold
Gryffindor is somewhere you will never grow old
So put me on, give me a chance,
To see your thoughts and around with them dance,
I'll put you where I see fit
I've never been wrong, I'm not a git!
The school broke into applause after the sorting hat finished its song and watched as the first student, "Aaron, Blake" was sorted into "Ravenclaw!"….
"Frantz, Hannah"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Mitchell, Logan"
"Slytherin!"
"Sansen, Audrey"
The Gryffindor table applauded loudly when she was sorted into "Gryffindor!"
The sorting ended with the placement of "Zimmer, Maggie" into "Gryffindor!"
Dumbledore stood up as the sorting hat was carried out by Professor McGonagall. He looked especially festive wearing midnight blue robes that made the twinkle in his eye really stand out.
"May I have your attention please? Welcome back students of old and new, and a big welcome to our lovely faculty. Just a few short announcements before the feast. The Forbidden Forest is strictly off limits. No exceptions. This is to all students." said Dumbledore while giving the Marauders a glance and continued to look in their direction while saying, "No magic in the corridors between classes, and there are a list of items banned on school premises located on Mr. Filch's door, our wonderful caretaker. I believe that covers everything. Enjoy!"
The food was simply wonderful. Steak and kidney pie, chicken, pumpkin juice, biscuits. The students were enthralled. Everyone ate until they could eat no more.
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It was an uneventful first night back. Lily, Remus, and Shawn showed the first years their dorms and went to their own bedrooms and went to sleep.
Lily thought, "It feels good to be back at home where I feel I truly belong," and went to sleep with a smile on her face.
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That's the end of chapter 3! I hope everyone likes it! I'm sorry if my British is off. I'm American...so I really am not all that familiar with it besides what I read in Harry Potter and novels by Jane Austen. Please review if you like!