Chapter Ten: The Stench of a Cockroach
It was finally time to go back to Hogwarts and the Hernandez's and Lily were hurrying through the crowd in King's Cross Station. Lily and Rachel were pushing trolleys along the human traffic inside the station.
"Come on! Hurry! We have five minutes left till boarding!" Mrs. Hernandez urged them frantically.
They hurried up, running already. Finally arriving in front of the solid barrier in between Platform 9 and 10, they stopped and regained their breath for a while.
Lily gasped for breath. Running was never good for her. She had asthma. She took out her purple inhaler from her small sling bag and sucked in for breath. At once, she felt better but still breathed in heavily. She put it back in and looked up. Mrs. Hernandez was urging Rachel into the barrier and whilst running, Rachel disappeared.
"You next, Lily," said Mrs. Hernandez, "George and I will be right behind you."
Lily nodded and aligned with the barrier. She ran but slower this time into the barrier. She closed her eyes nervously. But like before, no crash came. She opened her eyes to find Platform 9¾ in front of her. There was a sign above her head saying Hogwarts Express: 9 o' clock. There was a wrought iron archway in front of her bearing the words, Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Beyond the gate, she could see students of every year and their parents walk around through the steam billowing from the magnificent scarlet steam engine, the Hogwarts Express.
Rachel was standing beside her, looking out of breath.
"Come on! We should go!" She said. Just then, Mrs. Hernandez and Mr. Hernandez walked through the barrier. Mr. Hernandez checked her watch.
"3 minutes!" He said urgently. They walked forward hurriedly, navigating through the crowd of students and parents.
They stopped in front of the door and hoisted their trunks in.
"Hurry, let's find a compartment," Lily told Rachel.
They dragged their trunks and in Lily's case, carried Ches' basket and Vela's cage, along the train and found a compartment near the end. They hoisted their trunks into the luggage rack and placed the cage and the basket down on the seats. They jumped back out to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez.
"Bye, mum!" Rachel cried hugging her mother. "Bye, dad!" she hugged her father.
"Thank you for having me over, Mrs. Hernandez," Lily murmured.
Mrs. Hernandez grinned and gave her a hug.
"It was nice having you over dear," she replied and let go.
They heard a whistle, signaling the students to come aboard. Lily and Rachel waved before jumping in and poking their heads out of the window. They waved.
"SEE YOU IN SUMMER!" Rachel yelled at her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez laughed and before the train turned a corner, they Disapparated.
"Come on, let's go," Rachel beckoned Lily. They walked through the corridors the train, meeting a few familiar faces.
"Hey, Alice," Lily greeted the brown haired girl.
"Oh, hey Lily," Alice greeted back. She dragged her trunk over to them. "Do you have a compartment already?"
"Yeah," Rachel answered. "You could sit with us if you want."
"Thanks," said Alice, relief evident in her voice. "No one wants me to sit with them. Could you hold Travis for me?" Alice handed Rachel a toad, which she accepted reluctantly.
"Why?" Lily raised her eyebrows as they continued walking.
"What do you mean?"
"Why doesn't anyone want to sit with you?" Lily asked.
"I dunno," Alice shrugged. "They don't like Travis, I guess. He's got a habit of running away."
"Oh," Lily let the subject dropped.
They walked along the train in silence. They reached the middle of the train when one of the Prewett twins stuck his head out of his compartment.
"Oh, hello urr-" Lily said uncertainly. The twin grinned.
"Fabian," he said.
"Oh, hello Fabian," Rachel greeted him.
"Just kidding," the twin said, "I'm Gideon. And who is this?" Gideon gestured to Alice who raised her eyebrows.
"Oh this is Alice Scots," Lily answered. "Well, we have to go. Nice seeing you again, Gideon." Gideon grinned and saluted before closing his compartment door again.
The three girls walked further into the train and finally they reached their compartment. Lily glared and slammed the door open.
"Boys!" she snarled.
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter jumped. They raised their eyebrows.
"Oh, alright there, Lily?" Remus grinned. Lily glared at them all.
"This is our compartment!" Rachel growled.
"We got here first," Sirius argued.
Rachel pointed a stiff finger to hers and Lily's trunks at the luggage rack.
"That is our trunks, so this is our compartment," Rachel told them. Lily looked around.
"Where's Ches and Vela?" Lily's glared intensified. She glanced at the empty basket on the floor.
"What you mean this?" James held out a dapper tabby. Ches was hissing at the boys threateningly.
"Hey, give Ches back!" Lily cried holding out her arms.
Ches squirmed out James' grip and hopped into Lily's arms. Peter took out Vela and her cage guiltily, making Sirius glare at him.
"Ok, now out! OUT!" Rachel roared the last part. The boys stood up at once, grumbling slightly. "Shut up or I'll send Travis at you!"
The boys walked out, dragging their trunks with them. Rachel smirked and sank down on a seat. Lily walked in and place Ches back into her basket that was at the floor. Alice dragged her trunk in before closing the door.
"The boys really listen to you," Alice observed as she hoisted her trunk to the luggage rack.
"Only if we raise our voices or send them a threat," Rachel told her, stroking Travis fondly now that the toad helped in the threat part.
Alice grinned. Rachel handed Travis back and Alice held on to him tightly.
"So, what've you been doing in Christmas?" Lily asked Alice. She just shrugged.
"Nothing much, I just stayed at home," said Alice. "My brother Algie went to Romania for research on dragons."
"Wow, that's so cool," Rachel's eyes brightened. "And when he went back, what did he tell you about dragons?"
"Well, he didn't actually… tell me anything," Alice muttered. "He just stomped up to his room and slammed the door. I noticed he had a burn on his face though. I thought it was quite amusing, actually."
They started talking about other things and Herbology. Alice seemed to like that subject a lot. After an hour, Lily tuned them out and looked out the window.
The view outside was spectacular. Fields were enveloped by rolling hills. The sun was high up in the sky, shining down on the grassy fields.
"Anything from the trolley?" the trolley lady smiled at them. Lily looked up.
"Oh, I'll have some Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, and Pumpkin Juice, please," Rachel told her and took out her money bag.
Alice did the same and set down Travis on her seat.
"I'll have a Cauldron Cake, and Licorice Wands," Alice told the lady.
"Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Juice, and Cauldron Cakes," Lily said as she too took out her money bag that consisted of pocket money that Mrs. Hernandez had given her the day before.
The trolley lady took out what they asked. They mumbled their thanks and closed the compartment door.
Lily opened her Chocolate Frog. The frog almost leapt out when Lily caught it. She ate the head first and took out the card.
"Morgan Le Fay," she muttered and studied the woman in the picture.
"Oh, that's an evil witch!" Alice said in a whisper.
"Yeah, it says so right here," Lily pointed the card, "Morgan le Fay, also known as Morgana, was a Dark Witch who lived during the Middle Ages. She was the half-sister of King Arthur and an enemy of Merlin, and, during her lifetime, she played a role in many events. Like her half-brother, she was a monarch, ruling as queen of the island of Avalon. In addition to her knowledge of the Dark Arts, she was exceptionally talented as a Healer, and was an Animagus who could turn into a bird – Yada, yada,yada, blah, blah, blah," Lily finished as she ate the last of her Chocolate Frog. Alice frowned.
"I wish I bought a Chocolate Frog," said Alice enviously. "Algie's got all sorts of cards in his room."
"Speaking of cards, I've got Self-Shuffling ones here," said Rachel as she opened her trunk and groped around it. She collapsed back into her chair. "How about let's play Exploding Snap?" she suggested.
Alice grinned and went to play with her. Lily joined in too. By two o' clock, they were still playing the card game. Lily's face gave the impression that someone had rubbed coal on it. Alice's hair was standing. And half of Rachel's right eyebrow was singed.
BANG!
The cards blew up again. Lily grumbled and wiped her face. She was losing.
"What's with the face, Lillers?" Rachel taunted her. Lily scowled at her.
"Erm-I think we should stop," said Alice in a mortified whisper.
"Why?" Rachel asked incredulously. Alice pointed at the seat. The cover of the seat was all burnt, revealing the foam inside.
"Oh Merlin's beard products!" Rachel exclaimed. "We're going to pay for that!"
The swishing sound of opening the compartment door made them look up. Right there in the doorway stood James Potter, leaning into the doorframe.
"Pay for what, exactly?" he asked, smirking.
Rachel glared and tried to cover up the spot with her hands. "Pay for…" she paused.
"Travis' food!" Alice helped.
"Yeah, right," said Rachel hastily. "Travis' food."
James' eyes narrowed suspiciously. Sirius walked up behind him and peered in.
"Oh come on, just tell us what's wrong," said James, throwing away his arrogant voice and throwing in his normal voice. Lily shook her head.
"Nothing's wrong," she squeaked. Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"Something's wrong," Sirius said.
Rachel just sighed and revealed the spot. "Okay, okay, there!" she cried in frustration at the two. "Happy now?" Sirius and James gasped.
"What did you do?" Sirius grinned mischievously. James smacked the back of his head.
"Nothing obviously," said Rachel sarcastically, crossing her arms.
Lily gave her a look. "We were playing Exploding Snap," she answered truthfully.
"On the seat?" James raised his eyebrow.
They nodded. James took out his wand from his pocket. The girls eyed it suspiciously.
"I'm not going to hex you like poor Snivellus up at the other end of the train," he said in a reassuring voice that did quite the opposite to the girls. James pointed his eleven inch wand at the hole on the seat and muttered, "Reparo!"
At once, the hole sealed up and it looked as good as new. Lily gaped at it.
"Well, thank you," said Rachel.
"You're very welcome," he said, smirking smugly.
Remus walked up behind both of the boys and frowned. "What are you two doing?" he said sternly.
"Oh, nothing, Remus," Sirius answered, slinging an arm over the boys shoulders. "James and I were just leaving."
"Oh really?" Remus raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," James slung an arm on Remus' other side, "Come on, let's go back to our compartment."
"Ookay?" said Remus, confused but let the boys lead him away anyway. Lily raised an eyebrow at them.
"Want another game of Exploding Snap?" Rachel suggested, reaching to deal the cards again. Lily scowled.
"No way," said Alice. "We might just burn the seats again."
The final months at Hogwarts passed quickly and the final exams were looming around the corner. Lily was sitting at the library, working on her Potions essay about bezoars which Slughorn had insisted on her doing. They were flipping through potions books and Lily was just about to write down the properties of a bezoar when a heavy thud of a book on the table made Lily jump.
She looked up to find James, grinning lopsidedly, sitting down on the chair beside her.
"Alright, Lily?" James grinned cockily.
Lily scowled and stuck out her tongue playfully.
"Oh, really? Sticking your tongue out? Very mature, Lily."
"In case you have forgotten," said Lily, dipping her quill into the ink bottle, "We're eleven years old. We could act as immature as we like." James smiled.
"Touché," he said as he took out a piece of parchment and an ink bottle.
Lily ignored the shuffling sounds of James rummaging around his bag as she wrote down the properties of a bezoar, occasionally looking up to her book.
"Wouldn't you have an extra quill on you, would you?" James asked. Lily smiled and reached into her bag and took out a quill.
"Here," she handed the quill to him and James accepted it gratefully.
"Thanks," said James as he started turning through the pages of his book.
The two worked in silence for a while and the only thing that broke the silence was the both Gryffindors' quills scratching the parchment. Lily was staring at the book. Why would Slughorn let her do this? This is a second year topic, for Merlin's sake. But it might be that Slughorn was only trying to help Lily but it was still such a handful. She still had another essay for McGonagall to do and one more for Binns. Not knowing why, Lily glanced at James' work. He was doing the Transfiguration essay.
James looked up, smirked and then said, "Cheating again, are we, Miss Evans?"
Lily raised her eyebrows at him. He had never called her that before. She cleared her throat and turned back to her Potions essay.
"I am not cheating," she muttered, irritably. "I'm doing my Potions essay, as a matter of fact." James laughed.
"Nice try," he said, snorting. "We have no Potions essay."
This time, it was Lily's turn to laugh.
"Well, you should know that Professor Slughorn let me do an essay on bezoars," Lily told him. James was taken aback.
"What'd he do that for?" he asked incredulously. "That's a second year topic."
"Just as I had thought," said Lily, turning to James. "But I think that it's for future use or something like that. Maybe he wants me to have top grades."
James was about to retort back when a dark shadow loomed above them.
"And what I think," someone said behind them. James and Lily paled and looked behind them. Madam Pince was staring them down pointedly, "Is that if you two won't keep quiet, I'll send you out."
"Yes, Madam Pince," James and Lily chorused, not wanting to provoke the strict librarian.
Madam Pince nodded and shuffled away. James checked if she was really gone and leaned in to whisper to Lily.
"How do you think she heard us?" he asked. "We weren't actually raising our voices were we? We're staying at the end of the library, for Merlin's sake." Lily shrugged and gestured for him to keep quiet. James nodded and turned back to his essay, and so did Lily.
Not long after, the bell rang, signaling the next class. Lily squeaked.
"Oh no," she groaned and started writing hastily. "I'm not done with my essay yet!"
"You could finish that later you know," James said as he chucked his stuff into his books. Lily sent him a small glare and turned back to her essay.
"Potion's the next class," she said as she wrote on her parchment.
"Oh yeah," said James as he set down Lily's quill beside her. "Sorry, my bad."
Lily ignored him and started writing hastily. After one last period, she sighed in relief and threw her quills and now corked ink bottle back into her bag and put the book back inside the shelf. She slung her bag over her shoulders and grabbed her parchment. James raised his eyebrows.
"What're you doing to your essay?" he said, eyeing her parchment. Lily grabbed his hand and stormed out.
"Letting it dry of course," she said as they ran to class. They ran down the Grand Staircase, jumping over trick steps.
"Excuse me! Coming through!" Lily called ahead of her, making a few fourth year Ravenclaws stand aside as the two Gryffindors ran down.
They arrived on the ground floor and started running down the hallways to the steps down to the dungeons. They passed the basement and ran down more steps to the dungeons and stopped in front of the Potions classroom, out of breath.
Lily paused to open her school bag and took out her inhaler. James was staring at her wide-eyed as she sucked in a breath. He was about to open his mouth to say something when Lily opened the door. Slughorn was in front of the classroom and the students were sitting in their own tables by partners.
"Erm – Sorry, Professor," Lily and James muttered. Slughorn smiled.
"Oh, and where have you two been?" he asked. Lily held up her essay.
"I just had to finish this, sir, and James decided to wait for me," she said. Slughorn nodded.
"Let's see that essay now shall we, Lily?" he said. "You could sit down now, Mister Potter."
James turned to sit beside Sirius as Lily walked to the front and handed Slughorn the essay. He studied it for a while and chuckled appreciatively.
"Great work, Lily," Slughorn looked down at Lily and grinned. "As you know, I'm giving you this essay as preparation for your second year." Slughorn smiled.
"That explains it," Lily muttered. Slughorn laughed.
"You're cheeky, you are," he wheezed. "Well, nonetheless, I'm giving you twenty points to Gryffindor for the splendid essay…" he leaned down, and grinned. "And for your cheekiness."
"Thank you, Professor," Lily smiled before hopping off to her seat beside Rachel.
The Slytherins were glaring at her, except for Severus Snape who, like the Gryffindors, looked impressed. Rachel grinned at her and patted her back.
"Good girl," she said. Lily laughed and shoved her playfully. Slughorn didn't seem to mind as he started explaining about the Forgetfulness Potion.
"This is in preparation for your final exams," said Slughorn, eyeing the whole class. "This is as a favor to you all. So now that you will practically now how to brew it, I hope no one fails my final exam. So, the three main crucial ingredients are," Slughorn paused for dramatic effect. Lily took out her quill hurriedly and a piece of parchment, ready to jot down the ingredients. "Jobberknoll feathers," Slughorn said. Most of the class jotted down on pieces of parchments, notebooks or their Potion books. "Knotgrass and…" Slughorn grinned slyly. "Cockroaches!"
"What?" Harriet asked loudly. She was so pale that Slughorn looked at her concernedly.
"What's wrong, Miss…?"
"Phoenix. Harriet Phoenix," Harriet muttered. "I-I-I have K-Katsaridaphobia and so does Portia." She gestured to the glazed strawberry haired girl beside her. Everyone stared at her blankly. Slughorn smiled understandingly.
"Fear of cockroaches," said Slughorn.
"Ahh," everyone said.
The Slytherins sniggered making the Gryffindors glare daggers at them. Everyone glanced at him as Remus Lupin stood up.
"I'll be happy to exchange partners with Portia, Professor," he said. Slughorn raised his eyebrows and nodded.
"Well then," he said, "You, Miss Bell, will be partnered with Mister Pettigrew."
Portia frowned but stood up anyway and gathered her things. Remus did the same and left Peter, he seemed relieved to have abandoned him. Both of them settled down and at Slughorn's cue, everyone started brewing their Forgetfulness Potion.
Rachel was cutting up the knotgrass and plucking out its leaves while Lily was carefully stirring the cauldron which was a pale pink color, like what the Potions book had instructed. Rachel cupped the knotgrass leaves in her hands and threw them into the cauldron. The potion was turning a bright pink and steam was rising up merrily.
Slughorn passed them in his rounds and he gave it an approving nod.
"Why don't you work on the cockroaches, Rachel," Lily suggested, "While I count the Jaberknoll feathers."
Rachel turned pale a bit at the mention of cockroaches but did as Lily ordered anyway. She went to the Potions cupboard while Lily was reading how much feathers will be needed. Lily looked up at their ingredients to find a jar of dead cockroaches, right beside the Jaberknoll feathers.
"Rachel, come back," Lily called, "We already have co-"
"ARRGH!"
Everyone looked up and found Rachel swarming of cockroaches. Alive cockroaches. The Slytherins and James, Sirius, and Peter were roaring with laughter. Lily was trying to hold down her laughter as well. Slughorn was chuckling as he moved toward Rachel. With one flick of his wand, the cockroaches disappeared, leaving behind a pale and wide-eyed Rachel.
"It's all fine now, Miss Hernandez," said Slughorn. "And who did this?" he called to the whole class. Everyone shut up immediately. Slughorn eyed them all, with eyes narrowed. "No one?"
"Perhaps it was an accident, sir," said Bellatrix Black. She flipped her beautiful curly dark hair and smirked at Rachel. Sirius growled.
"No way was it an accident, Professor," said Sirius, glaring at his least favorite cousin. "It had to be a prank."
"And who better to play pranks than you, dear cousin," sneered Bellatrix. Sirius' glare intensified.
"Why you!" Sirius tried to lunge at her but James had grabbed his collar. "Let me go, James!"
"No way, Sirius," said James, giving him a stern look. Slughorn clapped to get everyone's attention.
"Now, now, kids," he said. "No need to fight. To make it fair, I will be taking five points from Gryffindor and Slytherin."
"But what if was just an accident, Professor?" whined Roger Avery.
"No whinging in my class, Mister Avery," said Slughorn warningly. "If none will say who did it, then both Houses lose points."
"But Professor-"
"Five more points from Slytherin!" announced Slughorn irritably, "Now go back to your simmering Potions!"
No one dared said anything after that. Rachel walked back silently to her chair beside Lily and glared at the jar of cockroaches.
"Blasted cockroaches," she muttered and opened it.
After checking the instructions, Rachel poured five cockroaches into the cauldron and stirred it five times clockwise. Lily worked silently on her Jaberknoll feathers and threw some in. The potion turned maroon.
"Great," Lily grinned and clapped Rachel's back. "Now we just have to stir it six times counter clockwise to make it a bright red."
Rachel nodded and did as the instructions said. At six stirs, the potion turned into a bright red.
"Now, step back from your cauldrons and let it simmer for a minute," Slughorn called. Everyone did as told and started chatting idly. Sirius and James walked over to where Lily and Rachel sat and peered into their cauldron.
"Nice potion," Sirius smiled.
"Thanks," Rachel muttered quietly.
"So, was that really an accident?" James asked eagerly. Lily thumped his head. "OW! What was that for?"
Lily told him to keep quiet and turned back to Rachel.
"It-It," Rachel drew in a quick breath, "I never knew cockroaches smell bad."
Hey guys! This is the first time I've written 3,000 plus words. :D
Well, I'm pretty spooked right now. My dad and bro are watching a documentary about the End of Times.
I'm God fearing and well, I'm not sure if I'm ready to face God.
Well, on a lighter note – I got to update! :D
Okay, erm – I just washed the dishes. I'm a bit peeved with my brother. I keep forcing him to wash it because I cooked but he kept whining about it. Lazy prick.
Anyway,
Yep, Lily has asthma.
So, thanks for reading!
Tell me what you think in a review!
HEY! We have TEN chapters already! That's a milestone! :D PARTY!
Anyway, thanks for reading.
I only own what I know I own.