A/N: Thanx to all
of you who have reviewed. And Thanx to
my beta readers. Everyone go and read
their fic. Their name is James and
Sirius and its name is First year Nonsense.
To all that
reviewed: You finally get to see your
name in….. I don't know but you get to see 'em! Oh, and I barely decided on doing this, (cuz a lot of people do,
and it seems nice) so I'm just going to do the first two chapter's reviews
together:
Lily Potter: I will.
Lovely Lily: So do I!
Moony's Chick: I'm glad that you
like it.
Fawks: Thanks, don't
worry I will.
Aurora: Glad you like.
Resisting Arrest: Thanks.
Jessica: Thanks.
James and Sirius: Thanks for being the very supportive beta
readers that you are: although I doubt that Me… James has written any one of
these reviews. You notice that I
mentioned you without having to be told. Unlike you two… Naughty! Keep
reviewing, it makes me feel better.
*Chocolate Frogs*: I'm glad that you like it. I like that part too, for the same reason. I
like L/J fics too, but I warn you, this isn't going to have any romance in it,
cuz I suck at it, and it would ruin my fic!
Sakura: Thanx.
Mon: I will.
shampoo ul copt: Glad you like. I'm going to keep on going.
A/N: Do you have any idea how hard it is to come up with new things to
say? Well, really hard! I kept repeting my self!
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Get the point? Well, something is mine, just not much.
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Chapter three – Scarlet Steam-Engine
As the
Evans family's car pulled into a parking spot in
the parking lot, the back right door shot open as soon as the car was stopped.
Lily jumped out of the car, and slammed the door behind her. She then ran to
the back of the vehicle and waited impatiently for her father to pop the trunk.
After he had done so, Lily flung it open and managed to lift her trunk, but
then she dropped it on the ground only millimeters from her toes, causing a
loud thump and many of the people around her to look at her strangely.
"Dad. Mum! I can't lift my trunk! Will someone help me? Please?"
"Sure thing, honey," Greg said, picking up her trunk.
"Wow-we! I'm glad I came; it was well worth the ride! Look at all the cute
boys!" Petunia said pointing.
Lily (who
only saw two or three cute boys so far) followed Petunia's gaze and finger and saw who she must be looking at. A boy with
messy black hair and glasses was getting out of a taxi. He didn't look much older than Lily, but he looked taller than her. He was
dressed a little funny for a boy his age though. He was wearing dark green
pants and a bright purple shirt, which was tight against his skin; you could
see that he clearly had muscles. Two people, whom were obviously his parents,
(the resemblance was remarkable between father and son) got out of the taxi
after him. They too were dressed strange. The mother was wearing some men's dress pants with a yellow string around the waist to hold them
up and a shirt, which looked as if it had belonged to a chef before she owned
it. It had stains all over it. And then, she was wearing high heels. The father
was wearing some Levis (which were too small) and a huge gray sweatshirt and a
plaid tie (the sweatshirt didn't have a collar).
The small
group made their way to the back of the taxi and waited for the driver to open
the trunk. As the driver (Bill, it said on his name tag) came around to the
back of the car, the young boy suddenly remembered something he had left in the
car and ran to get it. (Knocking in to Bill in the process.)
All the
time Petunia and Lily had been walking towards them, followed by Greg and
Marion. "Ooh he's so cute!" Petunia moped. "I wish I knew him!"
The boy
came out of the taxi again, this time holding a golden birdcage. In it was a
bright yellow owl. The boy was grinning from ear to ear, and he had a piece of
wood poking out of his pocket, which, if Lily was right, (which was usually the
case) was a wand.
The mother
looked up at the sound of the boy slamming the door and screeched. "Ah! JAMES POTTER! What in the world did you do to the poor thing?"
James, who
had been stifling a giggle behind his hand, looked his mother in the face and
the looked at his father who was also grinning. "Dad thinks it's amusing."
"Julie, love, its no big deal.
Really. The boy was just having a little fun, I say let him."
"Yeah mum, this is nothing
compared to what I'm going to do, so you might as well
get used to it. I thought you would be by now."
Petunia's mouth hung open. "How did he do that?"
"Petunia, I hate to ruin this
for you, but I think he's a wizard-to-be."
"Don't be silly, what's in the world makes you think that?"
"Mum," James protested, "I don't see why we had to come in that taxi-cab. It's so…so…so muggle! Why couldn't we have flown? Or taken the knight bus? I don't want to experience that again. So, do we go straight to platform
nine and three-quarters, or can we get a pretzel first?" asked James pointing to a stand that was selling pretzels and
candy.
"That's what makes me think that maybe, just maybe, he's a wizard-to-be." Lily said, smirking. Petunia gulped.
"I'll buy you a pretzel…or two," Nick said smiling.
"Nick! You don't want to spoil his appetite! You know about the feast once they
get to Hogwarts!"
"Mum, I'll ruin it anyway on the train ride there, and no matter how much
I eat now, I'm sure I'll be able to eat something at Hogwarts," James said rubbing his stomach and grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Julie hit
James lightly on the head and muttered, "Well, that's for sure."
"So, can I go yet?" asked James, heaving his huge trunk (mostly full of pranks) into
his arms.
Julie
looked at her son sadly, trying to think of a reason not to let him go. He had
already made them agree that he would go through the barrier alone. He had done
it lots of times before. Julie sighed, "In a minute. You're going to be gone for a year and I'm going to miss you so much. Don't tell anyone, but Seth is just so boring!"
James' eyes widened. "Mum! I'm surprised at you! Saying that your own flesh and blood is boring!
Never mind that it's true, you still shouldn't have told me that! Practically saying that a certain black
haired boy is your favorite, you were."
"Well, a certain black haired
boy is my favorite. I'm sorry to say that, because he is
such a proud little twit, but it's true," Julie said smiling. Before James could do anything she grabbed at
him and pulled him into a big hug, and then kissed him in the middle of his
forehead.
"Mum!" James exclaimed pushing her away and wiping off his forehead. "Don't do that!" James lowered his voice to a whisper, "Not in front of all these people, many of whom are cute girls!"
"Don't be silly James, they'll just think you're sweet."
"I don't want to be sweet! I want to be bad! That's why I'm going to this school for goodness
sake!"
"James! You promised me that
you wouldn't get into too much trouble, I'm surprised that you would break a promise."
"I'm not really breaking it mum, I'm just, extending it's meaning."
Julie
looked like she was going to lunge at James and rip his head off, (forgotten
was the fact that he was her favorite and that if she killed him, she would be
stuck with the boring child) so it was probably a good thing that at that
moment Nick came back from getting the pretzels and stepped in-between Julie
and her son.
By this
time, Petunia had stopped listening to their conversation; not wanting to think
a maniac was cute. But Lily still watched and listened laughing to herself when
Julie kissed James.
As James
stuffed half of his second pretzel into his mouth, his eyes met Lily's. "What you looking at?" He asked, after swallowing his mouth full of food.
"What does it look like I'm looking at? You, stupid," Lily said. She realized that
she sounded quiet rude, and was sorry because she had wanted to befriend this
boy.
"Well I can see that, but what about
me? I'm no different from most of the other boys around here; go stare
at them," James said to Lily.
James
thought that she was really pretty and wished that he wouldn't have been rude to her. A boy can never have too many girl friends.
"It's just that…" Lily suddenly got embarrassed, "Well, I'm muggle-born. And I don't know how to get into platform nine and three-quarters and I
thought that you were a wizarding family, and you could help me."
"Oh. It's that obvious is it? I knew dad shouldn't have worn that tie. Yeah I guess we could..." James trailed off. He decided he'd try to be nice. "Hungry?" he asked holding out the rest of his half eaten pretzel. He didn't really think she'd take it (girls are like that,
he thought) and so he wouldn't lose a pretzel, but maybe she would
like him more from this nice gesture.
Lily could
tell he was only doing it to be nice, and he still wanted the pretzel. She knew
that the nice thing to do would say no thank you, and then be friends with him.
But she didn't really want to do that. She was
hungry. "Oh. Thanks," she said and grabbed his pretzel, shoving into her mouth in the
same fashion that he had done. James stood there staring at her as she stuffed his
pretzel into her mouth, chewed his pretzel up, and swallowed his
pretzel.
All this
time, Julie and Nick had been talking but now stopped. Turning around and
seeing their son glaring at a pretty girl they smiled at each other. "James, why don't you introduce us to your friend?" asked Julie.
"Why don't I? Two reasons. One, she's not my friend. Two, I have
no idea who she is, other than she is a muggle-born and going to Hogwarts."
"Now James, don't be rude. Just because you don't know her, doesn't mean you aren't friends," Nick said patting his son on the back.
"No dad, you misunderstand. She's not my friend because I don't want her to be, not because
I don't know her. I know who will be my friend before I even know him.
See that boy putting that dungbomb right next to the hotdog stand? He is going
to be my friend. I can tell."
Both Julie
and Nick gaped at James. Why wouldn't he want to be friends with
this pretty little girl?
Lily,
seeing the look on their faces said, "Oh don't worry. I don't feel bad. If I want him to be my
friend, I could make him. Believe me! But, no offence or anything to you, I don't really want to be friends with your son, either." And she walked away, even though she had no idea how to get to
platform nine and three-quarters. She would find out from someone else.
James, on
the other hand, hadn't even heard what she said. He had
already made his way to the boy who set off the dungbomb.
"Hey," James said. "I saw your handy work with that
dungbomb, and I must say, that I am really impressed. As soon as I saw you, I
said to myself, that boy and me are going to cause a whole lot of trouble
together. So, what do you say, want to break the record for most detention with
me?"
"Sure. That'd be great. But, what is the record?"
"416. One of my dad's friends made it. The teachers are going to remember the seven
years they taught James and…"
"Sirius. The years they taught
James and Sirius. Hey James, how could you tell I was a first year?"
"Uh, I have no idea. Lucky
guess, I guess."
"Bet I can set McGonagall's hair on fire before you can," Sirius said, smiling.
"You're on man! But, before we start, we'd better put our trunks in a compartment. And no starting until
after then," James said, already running back to
where his trunk was sitting. He picked it and Cheesy-Wink (his now yellow
owl-who's color now matched her name) up and
then looked for Sirius.
Sirius was
talking to a tall witch who looked a lot like him. She was probably his mother.
They had the same black hair and mischievous smile. And a mischievous smile was
a weird thing to see on a woman of her age. Not that she was old. She looked
younger than James' own parents, but it still a strange
sight. James
walked over to them and smiled at Sirius.
"Mum, this is my new friend,
James."
"Hello," said James, outstretching his hand.
Sirius' mum took his hand and smiled. "Hello James. Sirius told me
that you are going to break the record for most detentions and all I have to
say is, good luck." Sirius picked up his trunk and the
two boys walked towards the railing between platforms nine and ten.
Little did
they know a girl with auburn hair and bright green eyes was watching them. And
had they know they wouldn't have cared.
Searching
the whole train, they only found one empty compartment. That might have been
because there was only one empty one, but it also could have been because they
stopped looking after they found an empty compartment.
Leaving
their trunks (and Cheesy-Wink) in the middle of the small compartment, they ran
out in search of McGonagall.
After Lily
had seen James and Sirius go through the barrier, she found her parents and
said goodbye. She got away as fast as possible, before they could change their
minds and force her to stay. Lily looked at the barrier between platforms nine
and ten uncertainly.
Would she
really go through it? Don't be silly, she thought to herself;
of course I'll go through! Right? Right. Lily
bravely (at least she thought she was being brave, but people who had done it
before would think she was being a wimp) walked up to the barrier, and then
continued to walk, closing her eyes. She waited to feel herself hit into the
steel barrier. When she didn't hit into it, she opened her eyes
and stopped walking. She looked at her surroundings.
A scarlet
steam engine was waiting next to a platform entirely different from the one
that she had left.
It was
packed with wizards and witches in an assortment of different colored robes
(from bright pink to tie-die, although only one person was wearing tie-die, and
she was really weird) and in a few different styles.
There were students saying good-bye to their
parents, and students saying hello to other students. There were owls all over
the place and some children were flying around on broomsticks, practicing for
their Quidditch team.
Lily had gotten
all the books she could about magic as soon as she got the letter from
Hogwarts. She had already practically memorized, Hogwarts, a History and
had read all of her spell books through twice. She wanted to be sure that she
wouldn't be behind everyone else. Since most
of the students were brought up in wizarding families, she figured she was a
ton behind everyone.
Lily looked
around at everyone, blinking. Diagon Alley had already proven to her that
wizards were real, but if her mind had wavered, (which it had) seeing all the
pointy hats again proved her to be correct.
Lily could
hardly believe that she was going to be on her way to Hogwarts in less than ten
minutes. She was so happy. She would be away from Petunia for months! She
wouldn't see her until Christmas, and then
only for a little while, and only in a small dose.
That also
meant that she would she her mom and dad for the same amount of time, but she
could live without seeing them. They were way too protective of her anyway.
And so,
without another thought of her parents or Petunia (although one thought of
James, the prat) she dragged her trunk onto the train and started looking
around for an empty compartment.
When she
had searched the whole train and not found one empty compartment, she went
around again, looking for the emptiest compartment. She found one that didn't have any occupants, but the trick was there were two trunks in
the middle of the floor, and a golden birdcage holding a yellow owl (which she
recognized as James').
This is
James' compartment, and that other
kid's, she thought. And just my luck, it's the only one that has room for another person. Great.
Lily,
feeling extremely sorry for her self, pulled her trunk into the compartment,
and seeing as how the other two hadn't put their trunks in a very
convenient place, (she has just tripped over Sirius' trunk, muttering unfriendly words) she lodged hers in front of
the door. She hoped that when they opened the sliding doors, they would be
stupid (or more stupid than they already are) and not see the trunk, and
trip over it.
Lily looked
at the watch on her left wrist and was surprised to see that it had only taken
her three minutes to look through the whole train for an empty compartment,
which she hadn't found.
Seven
minutes until we depart for Hogwarts. Those two gits should be getting back
soon. Joy. That's just what I need. To spend
hours confined in an undersized compartment with two of the most maddening
human beings in London. This should certainly be a fun trip.
And with
that thought she opened her trunk and pulled out her copy of The Standard
Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk. She had already read it twice,
but you can never be too well prepared for school. She opened it to the first
page and began reading. Lily sat down in the seat next to the window and set
her feet up on the seat next to her.
She had
just finished the first chapter when she heard the door slide open, a thud, and
then a curse. Without bothering to look up she said softly, but loud enough for
them to hear, "Have a nice trip?"
"Ha-ha. That was very funny.
That is the oldest line in the book," said the voice from the
floor, an unfamiliar one. She supposed it was the friend of James. She looked
up. James was standing in the doorway, his brown eyes dancing, laughing wildly,
his hand covering his mouth.
"Sirius..." (Uncontrollable laughter) "Just admit it." (Ongoing laughter) "She got ya good." James managed to squeak out between his hysterical laughter.
"I'll do no such thing. I wont let…" At that
moment Sirius looked up and saw Lily for the first time. A gasp escaped his
lips. "She's hot…" he murmured.
Lily tried
not to smile, but her emerald green eyes sparkled with pleasure. She sometimes
had that affect on boys.
"Sirius! You traitor! This is
that annoying girl I told you about!" James exasperated.
"I wouldn't care if she were the Queen of Sheba, she's still hot," Sirius said grinning stupidly.
"Honestly! She's an eleven year old girl, how can she be hot?"
"Good thing she's an eleven year old girl. I'd sure be in for a surprise if
I were to find out I'd been hitting on an eleven-year-old
boy, huh? I'd never get over the shame of it. I
don't know how she does it, but she does it quiet nicely, don't you thing so?"
"Sirius, snap out of it, she's a witch."
"Yeah, but so is every other
girl at Hogwarts," complained Sirius.
"Not that kind of witch Sirius.
I suggest you get over her. Fast." James could hardly believe
his new friend.
A few minutes ago, when he had told Sirius
about her, Sirius had been ready to turn her hair green, (to match her eyes)
and now he was falling all over her, her and her trunk.
Sirius got
up from the floor and practically jumped over to where Lily was sitting. "So, what do ya say, sweet thing, you and me get to know each other
better?" James rolled his eyes. Sirius
obviously hadn't had much experience with girls,
even if he thought that he had.
Lily
slapped him across the face when he put his hand on her knee. "Oh grow up!" she said wrathfully pushing him away
from her.
Sirius
grinned, thinking of a perfect comeback. "I am, babe, but I can only
grow up one day at a time, just as fast as you."
Lily glared
at him and rolled her eyes. (Although obviously not at the same time.) Boys
were so stupid. "Oh shut up, and don't call me babe or sweet thing. I can see this is
going to be a very long trip."
"Yeah, but you already knew
that. And having us here isn't going to make the trip any longer," James argued.
"Well, that is unless we decide
to blow up one of the wheels. That might cause the trip to stretch some," Sirius pointed out, grinning impishly.
"Yeah, and that'll make up for not finding McGonagall," James said equally impish.
"Oh, you wouldn't, would you boys?" Lily asked glumly. They couldn't ruin her day. This was supposed to be the best day of her life,
the day that she finally got away from Petunia.
"Course not. We'd rather set fire to the two compartment filled with prefects. Ooh
how I'd love to see them scream," Sirius said, rubbing his
hands together.
"Oh! Or wouldn't it be great to turn the tracks so they brought us to Huneydukes
instead?" James exclaimed rubbing his stomach.
"You just ate James! Plus, I'm not letting you leave this compartment and ruin the whole day
for me!"
"How do you plan to stop us?" asked James.
"I'll set fire to your hair!" Lily said, not able to think of anything original.
"And then we'll just conjure up a bucket of water," Sirius said. This made Lily stop and think. She didn't know that neither of the two boys knew how to conjure up a
bucket of water, but it made her feel far behind to think that they could.
"I know what I'll do, I'll lock to door," Lily said proudly.
"Then we'll unlock it. Plus it doesn't have a lock on it."
"She was talking about
magically, stupid," James said hitting his friend on the
back of the head.
"Oh. She doesn't know how. After all, she's a muggle born."
"Doesn't mean I don't know how to do anything," Lily said defensively, although she really had no idea how to
magically lock the door.
"That's what you think," James mischievously said.
That made
Lily angry. Even though they were probably right, she didn't want them thinking that she didn't know anything about magic. She did know a few spells. Not many,
but a few. It was hard to learn how to do them right without someone telling
you whether you were doing something wrong or not.
"You're right, I am muggle born, and I don't know very many spells. But still, please don't go off and cause trouble. I just want to do good in school, and
I don't want you to mess that up for me!"
"If we went and did something
bad, how would that ruin your reputation any?"
"I don't know how, but it would!"
"Okay, okay. We'll just stay in here and plan what surprise we'll do for the sorting ceremony," James sighed grinning
slightly.
"No! You can't do anything horrible at the sorting ceremony either. You can't ever do anything bad!"
"Who in the heck do you think
you're talking to? This is James and I here. Of course we're going to do things we aren't supposed to. Ya think we've gone nutty or something?"
"Well, I suppose no more 'nutty' then you already were, but can't you just wait and mess up my life tomorrow?"
"Lily," sighed James, frustrated. "We aren't going to mess up your life by pulling a few pranks. Why are you
making such a big deal about this? Just because we break rules and go to
detention, doesn't mean that you did anything wrong."
"Well, if I'm in here, then I'll hear you planning and I would be
breaking the rules not to report to the teachers anything that you might do…"
"Jeez Lily, get a grip. You
haven't even met any of the teachers yet, and you're already devoted to them. Wonder how much of a teacher's pet you'll be once you actually have a class
from 'em!" Sirius marveled.
"Fine, if you care that much,
we'll whisper so you can't hear us? Okay?" James asked, irritation still showing in his eyes.
"Okay," Lily said under her breath.
She was a little disappointed. She had really wanted to hear what they were
going to do. She would even have helped them, had they asked, just so long as
they didn't tell anyone that she helped them. It would be fun. But Lily Evans
never has fun by breaking the rules. There were other ways of having fun. But
right now, all Lily really wanted to do was break the rules.
