Lost in my bizarre wonderings of magic, I didn't even notice the two boys walk in. Had I seen them, I would have seen that they both had that distinct pranksters glint in their eye, both were dark haired, one a little taller than the other. They would've seemed very happy and loose, the kind of people that you have no trouble at all getting to know and eventually like. They probably would've amused me, as they do now.
But I didn't notice them as they spread themselves out on the seats, acting as if they owned the place. I, of course, was still in my own little world until one of them, out of the blue, gave a very loud, short, booming laugh. I swear I jumped at least 3 feet straight into the air, if not more.
At that point, they realized someone else was in their car. One of them looked at me (the one who laughed) and inquired seriously (or maybe it was sarcasm; I've never been good at telling the difference.) "I'm sorry. Did I scare you?" I was prepared to mock his sarcasm, but upon looking into his eyes, I found I could no longer convince my vocal chords, mouth, and brain to work together, especially in a way that would convey the absolute opposite of what I was feeling. I fell in love with him right then and there.
I know what you're thinking. I'm only eleven, I wouldn't know what love is. But I swear, he was my dreams. Which is why, instead of a witty, well-thought up remark, all I could bring myself to say was, "A little." Scolding myself for being so bland, I tried to come up with something a little more interesting. "I'm Lily Evans. Who are you?" Oh, great job, Lily. Real interesting.
Neither of them seemed to see my embaressment. The other boy, the one who I obviously hadn't paid much attention to, answered first. "I'm James. Don't let Sirius bother you. He's like that to everyone, 24/7. It takes some getting used to."
I almost laughed out loud. Bother me? Not by a long shot! But, trying to keep my dignity, I actually replied, "It's alright. He's nothing compared to my older sister, Petunia." Once again, I slapped myself mentally. Why did she have to creep into this conversation? The best part of this magic thing was getting away from the brat!
Despite my hatred toward my sister, I had to laugh when Sirius replied, "Really? Well, we'll have to fix that then, won't we?" Logically, I should've been starting to hate him there, the jerk, wanting to be worse than Petunia. But I couldn't help noticing how cute his grin (mischievious as it was) was. I was utterly pathetic.
So, here I am, goggling over this guy I've known for all of about 6 minutes. Wonderful. As I was so intelligently fumbling for the right words to say, a pretty young lady wheeling a cart piled with the best looking sweets I had ever seen came strolling into our compartment. "Candy, kids?"
I just stared, wondering where to start. You see, my parents are HUGE health food fanatics. I'm lucky if I can get a hold of some artificically sweetened fruit snacks on Halloween, so this...this was heaven! I spotted a bag of what looked like jelly beans and reached for it. James grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "Think about it before you buy those. The're every flavored beans. Literally. Worst I ever got was snake blood." He shuddered, obviously remembering the occasion.
I now looked at them in disgust, then Sirius spoke up, mocking James from earlier. "Don't mind James. You just have to be brave." He, obviously being a mile ahead of my level of bravery, stepped up boldly and bought three bags. Not one, no, he insisted he had to stock up for later. It was disgusting. But all thoughts of his being horribly disturbed were wiped out of my mind by the wink he sent in my direction as he opened his first package. I thought I would melt. Maybe I was the one who needed help.
I gave him a half-smile, not quite bold enough to wink back. "I'm afraid I'm not quite as brave as you. I'll just have some of those." I pointed to a bag of especially delicious looking chocolates.
The lady smiled at me. "Oh, wonderful choice. These new Chocolate Frogs seem to be going up in popularity more every day. Of course, it may be the collector's cards..." I smiled back (quite a lot of smiling going on), decided not to ask about the cards she'd mentioned, and gave her 4 of the silver coins. I think they were Sickles. I'm still getting the hang of wizard money.
The rest of the trip consisted of James and Sirius bickering constantly, throwing sarcastic remark after sarcastic remark at each other, and, though it may have seemed as though they were mortal enemies, I could tell they've been best friends forever. They fight more like immature brothers than rivals.
A couple people came through out car, including a particularly nasty boy called Snape, who had the greasiest hair I've seen in my life. I'd be surprised if he had washed it once in the past year. Well, we got rid of him quickly. And another, rather (forgive me for saying this) chubby boy who seemed nervous about everything from whether the train would crash to which house he'd be in to accidentally eating peanuts, which he was apparantly fataly allergic to. Truthfully, I didn't like him much more than Snape. All in all, the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Not at all what I expected, I confess.
I woke from my stupor when the train finally (or perhaps it was too soon for my nerves) came to a halt. I started to reach for my trunk, but James put a hand on my arm and said, "Don't bother. They'll get your stuff to your room later."
"Right. I knew that." They knew I was lying, as I had just turned the color of an extremely ripe tomato. Of course, in addition to little tid-bits about the wizarding world, I was also oblivious to the fact that James had just been trying to give me some friendly advice.
The first thing I noticed as I stepped out of the compartment wasn't the elaborate, seemlingly antique buildings. It wasn't all the owls flying nonchalantly overhead, carrying paper and packages tied securely to their feet. What I first noticed was what I assume all the first years first noticed. When there's a 10-foot-tall man with a beard and hair that could be a net for a whole species of birds, it's hard not to notice him.
Even stranger than his size was that he talked. To us! "Firs' years, righ' this way. Follow me. Over 'ere." It took a minute for my feet to start walking; I suppose my gaping had kept them in place a few extra seconds.
Sirius grinned at the look on my face. He leaned over and whispered (extremely close to me, I might add) "That's Hagrid. He's the gamekeeper. He's actually pretty nice, from what I hear," I jumped, startled by his voice and breath on my eat, then, after processing what he had actually told me, I proceeded to look at him skeptically. I happen to be very proud of my skeptical look.
Truthfully, I believed him. I think I would've believed him if he told me he liked to play professional basketball on Mars. Not that he knew what basketball was. Then again, I was starting to get acquainted with his sarcastic personality, so maybe not.
When Hagrid told us to get on a boat (he actually did seem an okay guy, for being so huge), I obviously went with Sirius and James, but it was four to a boat. Two people were left, Peter Pettigrew (the *ahem* chubby boy), and a shy-looking girl with curly brown hair. I motioned her over before Peter could spot us. I'm sorry, I just do not care for that boy.
She looked half relieved, half scared, probably at the prospect of talking to and sitting in a boat with three people she didn't know, expecially since two were boys. Myself, I'm usually out going, but I have this talent to tell what people are like just from looking at them. Maybe it had something to do with magical blood. Who knew.
I smiled at her, calling, "Come on over here! We have a spot!" She jogged over, relaxing gratefully. She sat down and stared at her feet. I looked down, half-wondering if there was something especially interesting down there, yet knowing perfectly well there wasn't, and she just couldn't deal with looking new people in the eye. I hope that didn't sound conceited of me.
I figured conversation would help the situation a bit. "I'm Lily, that's Sirius and James." Don't I start the most intriguing conversations? They seem to follow a pattern.
She looked up towards me, not directly at me. It was an improvement. "Amber." That was it. No pleased to meet you, or where are you from, just 'Amber'. Now, I know I'm outgoing, and I probably seem like I would love other outgoing people. But, truth be told, I have a huge soft spot for people that are just the opposite. And so, because of that one word, that barely audible, just necessary one word, I decided that this Amber would have me as a friend, if no one else, whether she liked it or not.