Ok! I'm sorry this took so long! I was bogged down writing my new story, "Before You". Look for it soon! This is a nice and long chapter with a wonderful quantity of food, rhyming and total and complete craziness!
Disclaimer: Everything you recognize is owned by someone that is not me. Everything you don't recognize probably belongs to me. If you wanna borrow it, just e-mail me and ask me or leave your request in a signed review!
Lilies Don't Bloom in Winter
Chapter 3- Food, Glorious Food!
"Why does it always rain when we get here?" Lily inquired, stepping off the lavender train and staring up at the cloudy sky. The precipitation cascaded in sheets around the two girls, soaking through their robes quickly. Eryn had magicked her own robe to be temporarily dark blue. However, the spell was melting and turning her yellow shoes a very interesting shade of what Lily confirmed was 'puke green'.
"I think it's so that we actually LIKE going into the school…" Answered Eryn. She was descended from a VERY long line of wizards and attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry wasn't something she was overly excited about. Lily, on the other hand, loved the shimmering castle. However, she hated the rain. And even more than that; she hated thunderstorms. They were right up there with lettuce and James Potter.
They two girls scrambled into a carriage and were quickly joined by two other Gryffindor girls, Maraghia Hollis and Felicia Constable. The two were best friends and the four girls had been very close since their first year. With a jerk, the carriages started towards the school, the sound of the rain and the rumbling of the wheels ALMOST drowning out a song with very dirty lyrics being sung by four young men. It was drifting, despite the storm, from the carriage behind them. Mara and Felicia burst into fits of giggles but Lily's face was like a blank stone. A small smile graced Eryn's face for a moment but then, with one look at Lily's expression of non-amusement, it faded and she sighed.
As they entered the front hall, the four girls cautiously moved around the perimeter of the room, looking at the ceiling. The Hogwarts poltergeist, Peeves, had promised them a nasty surprise when they arrived. It was his attempt at revenge for them getting him in trouble with the Slytherin's ghost, the Bloody Baron. As it was, they were thoroughly squished against the wall when Sirius and James came charging in, shaking water over everyone within splashing distance. Remus and the now located Peter Pettigrew entered behind them more demurely but not without their share of attention. Well… Remus got attention. He was of medium height and build with soft, dreamy hazel eyes and very striking features. Peter, who was James's opposite, was short and a bit on the tubby side with small, watery blue eyes and a pointed nose. While he WAS one of the Marauders, most girls could not understand why. Sirius, with his shoulder length black hair and large, sparkling black eyes, was considered the cutest guy in the school along with Remus and surpassed only by James. He tried to attribute it to his charm and debonair. Jeremy flatly told him that it was because he had a baby face.
"Well, well…. if it isn't James Potter." A slender boy broadcasted from across the hall. He tossed his head, making his blonde-white hair glitter. His pointed face may have been handsome if it weren't twisted into an ugly sneer and his light blue-green eyes hadn't been so cold.
As it was, James glanced over at him and smiled in a condescendingly cheery-type way. "Well, hullo Malfoy! I didn't expect to see you after that collision you had with those flying dungbombs. Did it hurt very bad when they hit? I just can't believe someone would be so careless as to leave those floating around…"
The Hufflepuffs tried desperately to muffle their giggles but the Gryffindors laughed outright and Malfoy stalked into the Great Hall, his cronies following at his heels. As they passed the four Gryffindor girls, one of the Slytherins broke off from the group. If not for his long hooked nose, pallid coloring, gauntness, greasy hair, and the coldness in his glittering eyes, this boy and Sirius could have been brothers. In other words, they looked nothing alike.
"Severus…" Lily muttered under her breath, trying to edge behind Eryn. This did not quite work as Eryn was a full three inches shorter than she was and her fiery red hair did not even begin to match her best friend's golden locks.
"Lily? How have you been?" He asked, ignoring the fact that Eryn was standing right in front of him. "You didn't owl me over the summer…"
"I'm sorry. My mum was in the hospital…"
"Don't lie Lils!" Eryn snapped, stepping on Sirius's toe. "Maybe she didn't owl you because she didn't want to!" It was almost like a toddler addressing her father. Severus Snape stood almost a foot taller than the blonde. "And don't pretend you can't see me 'cuz even YOUR nose ain't THAT big."
Lily shook her head, eyes sad. It was almost a shame at how American her best friend was. Her parents had relocated to England after an assassination attempt on her father, who was an Auror at the Ministry of Magic. But with the way things were going with the Slytherins, Lily was sure that there would be another attack on a Collins. But this one would probably involve dungbombs and fillabusters fireworks. And, it was this fear that made Lily grab her friend by the arm and drag her into the dining hall.
"I can't believe he actually asked you out, Lily-glow! IMAGINE! HIM! A greasy, oil, shifty, mean… jerk!" She stomped her foot for emphasis and then yanked her chair out savagely and slammed herself down into it.
"Eryn, he was just acting on his true feelings…" The redhead began, delicately seating herself in the chair at the far end of the table. "But still…" She shuddered. "Why did he have to ask ME? And in front of the Marauders, no less!"
At just that moment, there was a loud shuffling of many little feet as a long line of first years trudged in, soaking wet and looking very disoriented. The imperious Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonnall, came sweeping in behind them, her hair in a loose bun on top of her head. She had been a Hogwarts teacher for thirty two years and the head of Gryffindor for 12. Under her arm, the woman carried a three legged stool and an old, battered wizard's had with a large rip in the side. The hall was dead silent as she placed the cap on the stool and then walk to the main table to retrieve her scroll of names.
Just then, the rip in the hat opened like a mouth and the old thing of magic began its traditional 'story' of who it was and why it was there.
"Many, many years ago,
Those who gave this school a start
Did create a special hat,
To see deep into your heart.
I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Cap,
I tell you what I know.
I've been waiting all year long,
To tell you where you go.
You make not like the way I look
But listen to what you're told.
This is where you'll best succeed;
You'll thank me when you're old.
You could fit in with Gryffindors,
Who are naturally brave and bold.
Their courtly kindness and chivalry
Make them like knights of olde.
Or perhaps in slippery Slytherin,
You'll truly be at home.
With the ambitious and the cunning,
Like the Emperors of Rome.
But those who enjoy working hard,
Fit into patient Hufflepuff,
These sweet Crusaders of toil and tears,
Never seem to get enough.
And then, there's clever Ravenclaw,
Where dwell the jagged of wit.
If you laugh at a mystery,
In this thinking house you'll fit.
And now's the time to put me on
And find out where to go.
Hurry now, so you can eat
And we can end this show."
The hall erupted into thunderous applause and Mrs. McGonnall unrolled her list and began reading off names. Lily cheered loudly when the first student, "Adams, Abigail!" Became a Gryffindor. She was barely paying attention when the second up, "Allen, Schafer!" Became a Ravenclaw. By the third name, she was thoroughly engrossed in her own thoughts and only clapped half-heartedly.
Inside her head, her thoughts were returning to her own first year and the horrible memory of her first words spoken to James Potter. She remember that day so perfectly…
*Flashback*
"Hi, my name is Eryn Gillian Collins." The young blonde girl sat down on the rock beside the girl the Slytherin boy had called 'mudblood'. "What's yours?"
"You're not from England, are you?" Was the curt response.
"No. I lived in America until two months ago."
"Why did you move?" The redhead still stared out at the lake.
Eryn regarded her suspiciously for a moment then, she frowned as she replied. "My father is… was an Auror for the American Ministry of Magic. Now, he works at the one here…" She nudged the other girl with her shoulder. "And why don't you tell me your name? We'll be sleeping together for the next seven years so we might as well be best friends. I don't know anyone else here, you know." Her blue eyes sparkled as the other girl slowly met her gaze.
"I'm…" At just that moment, the girl gave a shriek and plunged into the lake. Unfortunately, the spot they were sitting on was directly over a rather deep section. She disappeared beneath the icy water with only a small ripple to mark her passage.
Eryn whirled to see four boys standing on the bank behind her. The leader seemed to be the second to shortest boy and he wore a rather confident smirk. Within a second, she had taken in the knobby knees, messy black hair and mischievous brown eyes. Then, she rose, glaring at them. "POTTER! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!" She turned back to the water as she heard the redhead break surface, gasping. "Oh god!" She made a leap at the water to try and grab the girl's hand but she slipped back beneath the surface. "DAMN!" She whirled again. "How can you just stand there?" She screamed, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks. She ran at the water, preparing to jump in but a set of male arms wrapped around her shoulders. She never even noticed the huge crowd in her frantic fight to reach the water.
Suddenly, there was a flash of skin against the green grass as one of the two taller boys removed his robes and dove into the lake. Still screaming and crying, she clawed desperately to get free and reach the water. It seemed like forever before the boy broke surface, pulling the girl up with him. She was thrashing around desperately, pummeling the boy with her fists and biting at any part of his body she could reach. (A/N: Oh yes, THERE'S gratitude for you!) One of the professors immediately realized what happened and removed the violently struggling girl from the boy's arms, allowing him to pull himself onto the shore. However, as soon as the girl's feet touched the ground, she picked up a rock, and, by seemingly sheer willpower alone, struggled over to where the boy was shaking out his long, dark hair. Without any warning, she dropped the rock on the boy's head. It being a very heavy rock, he fell to the ground, unconscious. The redheaded girl soon followed in sinking to the earth, though she landed much more softly.
With a strangled cry, Eryn broke out of the strong boy's grasp and ran to where the girl was lying. She grabbed her white hand in her own two and squeezed it. "Are you ok?" Her voice trembled slightly.
The other girl's eye lids fluttered open wearily and a tiny smile crossed her features. "I heard you trying to get to me. Thank you." Then, she blinked slowly. "And my name is Lily Evans…" With that done, she sank into a blissful sleep.
According to the school nurse, Madam Siffles, attributed her condition to lack of oxygen. Needless to say, Lily spent several days in the infirmary, recovering from her ordeal and generally feeling sorry for herself. It was only after she learned that it had been James Potter who pushed her in and Sirius Black who had pulled her out, did she feel the slightest bit of remorse. Her excuse for hating him from that day on was the fact that he was in cahoots with the offender.
But from that day on, Eryn Gillian Collins and Lily Phaye Evans were best friends for the rest of their lives.
*End of Flashback*
Lily was jerked back into reality as she felt someone kick her. It was a young strawberry blonde woman who the redhead immediately recognized and flashed a smile to. "Molly. How have you been?"
"Good!" The curly haired girl smiled back. "But I can't wait for Professor Dippet to be DONE! I'm SOOO hungry!"
Lily laughed and then motioned to the head table as the ancient headmaster rose, his legs a little wobbly.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, my young ones and remember in your quest through these halls the coming years, these three words." He smiled down at all the expectant faces. "I. Am. Retiring!" He shrieked joyously, jumping up and down.
Every student and teacher present applauded, laughed, or did both. Then, they turned to the tables that were now heaped high with all kinds of delicious foods.
They had just gotten into dessert when Lily felt a tap on her shoulder and turned in her seat. She saw James Potter smiling at her so she turned back around, a scowl marring her lovely face.
"What do YOU want, Potter?" She demanded, reaching out to pull a banana cream pie towards her.
"Jeeze Evans. I just wanted to see if you guys are going to eat that pudding?" His eyes twinkled and, for the first time, she noticed a tray in his arms piled with tons of desserts.
"I'd think that you'd have enough even for you four, James." She snapped. "But go ahead and take it. WE certainly don't want the weight."
"Great thanks!" He grabbed the bowl it was on and stacked it on what now resembled a rather precarious and ridiculous wedding cake.
Things might have just gone on normally and the future might have been changed if Frank Longbottom hadn't chosen that moment to push his chair out. But, in more than one way, thank God he did.
James, who was in the process of turning away, when a chair leg came flying out of nowhere and tripped him. He did a rather magnificent turn, trying in vain to keep the concoctions from falling. However, the pudding he had just retrieved from Lily seemed to have some type of attraction to her.
It fell on her head.
"Oh! Gee, Lily! I'm sorry!" James couldn't help grinning. "But, you know that really isn't your color."
"James?" Lily's voice was too sweet.
"Yes, Lily darling?" Suddenly, his face was being smeared with a huge handful of banana cream pie.
"Go suck a banana."
There was a sudden silence over the entire Great Hall.
Lily Evans, the ultimate teacher's pet, had just clobbered James Potter, the ultimate Hogwarts hero, in pie and whipped cream.
Then, there was flying food between the two of them; anything they could get their hands on. A warm pie flew past James and hit a Hufflepuff in the back of the head. After this, it was an all out war.
Somewhere in the din, Lily faintly recognized a battle cry as being Sirius's but she was so intensely concentration on hitting her opponent with everything that came into her hands that she narrowed her focus down to him.
All at once, everything stopped. Just stopped. The flying food froze in place in the air, sneering at every law of gravity established. Lily suddenly realized that she was going to be in A LOT of trouble. She abruptly realized that there was someone on top of her. Subsequently, she realized she was lying on the ground. She looked up into the face of her "attacker".
"James. Get off of me."
"In a moment my little confectionary delight." He laughed. Then, he leaned down and proceeded to lick a glob of whip cream off the tip of her nose. She promptly threw him off. As they stood, James eyed her.
"You know, you really do look good in whip cream James!" came Sirius's yell. He was floating in midair, obviously trying to leap in the way of the heavy bowl flying from the Ravenclaw table.
"I think LILY looks good in whip cream." He replied, smiling suggestively at her.
"That will be QUITE enough Mr. Potter!" Lily and James both winced. That voice belonged to a very angry Professor McGonnall.
They glanced toward the head table simultaneously. Professor Dumbledore and Professor Dippet had their wands out. They the ones responsible for the frozen food. (a/n: you know what I mean!) McGonnall was bearing down on them with death in her eyes.
When the pair emerged from Professor Dippet's office 4 hours later, they both wore somber expressions with just a touch of bitterness. They entered through the portrait hole only to be mobbed by their respective best friends. Sirius and Remus pulled James toward the fire to where Peter waited with an expectant look while Lily was dragged upstairs by Eryn and their two roommates, Fallien West and Chrysalis Mackenzie.
Even though they were in different rooms, they both proclaimed their punishment at the same time:
"Detention every night for 3 months," There were gasps of horror from their audiences. Then, the kicker. Lily's miserable, "With James!" and his own muttered, "With Lily!"
Sirius grinned and rubbed his hands together. There was nothing like food to start out a year of mischief and mayhem. But even his conniving mind could not imagine the results of this incident. All he could do was plot like a madman and wander around singing "Food! Glorious food!"
And glorious it was!
A/N: Ok, so that was the end of this chapter. I PROMISE that the next one will have more romance and an interesting twist in James's perception of our favorite redhead. (*sticks her tounge out at all those who don't think Lily is the greatest*) And don't forget to review responsibly! I will read all flames and then feed them to my pet dragon.
Notes to my darling reviewers:
Crystalline Temptress: Thanks! And don't worry; the perversion is coming up!
'Flora': 1) I can't control the format that it goes up in otherwise, I would be more than happy to oblige and 2) I'm a girl and I know make-up. I was just in the mood to describe it and it helps set the contrast between her and Eryn.
The_Blue_Pen_Fairy: LoL. Cliffhanger? And yey! I'm glad you like it (even if it IS a L/J fic!)
StarChildHlermione86: *bows* Thank you, thank you. *blushes* I'm on your favorites list? I'm really flattered! And here's the next part.
Peaches-chan: LoL! Don't worry, this is only the beginning! This only covers this year but it's the first in a series that covers the rest of their careers at Hogwarts.
Volcan of Dragonfire: Ummm... thank you... I think....
Firenze: *grins* I'll have another funny quote at the end of the next chapter. And I'm glad you liked it.
Trista_Setsuna: You're so cute! And I LOVE the Prank Bet! But you need to write more babe!
