Disclaimer: A present for you, JK Rowling.
A/N: I've still got a lot more written! Hope you are enjoying the story so far!
The Rivalry of James and Lily
Year 2 - Chapter 2
The Arrival and The Secret Room
Sirius and Kate didn't show up until the sorting started. And they weren't in the best of moods.
"Straight detentions for three weeks, Sirius. This bites. And school hasn't even started," she moaned.
"Yeah... actually, this kicks me off in the right direction for beating my detention record last year though."
Kate slapped him playfully. "Is that all you care about? Beating some silly record? We're going to be stuck cleaning bed pans, and chopping bugs, and ewww...." she trailed off, shivering.
"Oh come on, Kate, you know I was only kidding. At least we have the detentions with each other," Sirius added smiling.
"So, how are the two love birds coming along over here?" James had entered the conversation.
"Love birds? Us?" both Kate and Sirius said in unison.
"Oh come off it, Sirius, I'm not that blind. You wouldn't invite a girl over me unless you were really taken with her-" Sirius blushed at these words, "-I've seen the way you look at each other, you like each other."
"Oh shut up, Potter, we're just friends," replied Kate.
"Yea, Potter," Lily had now joined the conversation, "Like I said before, Sirius might have just not wanted to be with you." But then she added, "but for the first time in my life, I have to agree with James, you two like each other," while giving her two denying-love friends a piercing look.
"Eurgh, whatever. Anyways, how was your ride over here?" asked Kate.
"Oh don't tell me you were in on that little plan. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but all me and James did was fight some more."
"Oh well, we've got other plans for you two, haven't we, Sirius?" giggled Kate.
Sirius simply smiled at James and Lily, while they both grunted through gritted teeth, "WE HATE EACH OTHER! JUST ACCEPT IT!" and got up right in the middle of the Dumbledore's speech.
Later that night, Lily was walking around the castle. She didn't really know where she was going, or realize where she was, until she was in front of an extremely unfamiliar painting. It was of a thatched covered house that looked as though it had come from the fairy tale, Snow White. The house had dozens of colorful flowers growing wildly along the base of the house, and in what would have been its backyard was a small vegetable garden. In that garden was a small snake coiled around a carrot. Behind the house, she could see an foreboding looking forest, and a group of ravens were crowded in the sky. There also was a badger rolling around in the side yard. But the strangest thing about the picture was the lion that was staring fiercely out of the cottage's window. She was just admiring the picture when she saw a small lever right next to a torch beside the picture. Curiosity of course won the best of her, and she pulled on the lever.
"Wow," she muttered as she stared into a royal-looking room.
The room contained a small, four-post bed, covered with a scarlet down comforter. It had golden pillows that sparkled in the firelight from the corner of the room. There was a puffy gold threaded chair in one corner, a mahogany desk to her right, and a tall dresser on the other side.
It was beautiful, and she was just about to enter when she heard footsteps coming from the other direction. She quickly shut the painting and ran off in the opposite direction of the footsteps, not wanting to wait and see who it was, in case it was Filch, Mrs. Norris, or a professor. She made sure though, that she would be able to retrace her steps to the painting. She figured it was a perfect place to hide from those nasty Slytherins, or even her friends when they were bothering her about James. EWW James...
Meanwhile, James was just coming around the bend, following directions his father had written down for him. He heard footsteps running off in the other direction.
"I wonder who that is," he thought. He paused a moment to make sure the footsteps didn't come back. He felt smug though. He was wearing his new invisibility cloak his father had given him. No one was about to catch him. After a few quiet seconds, he looked back down at the piece of paper in his hand.
"It should be just here," he mumbled. "Ahh yes, this must be the picture dad told me about."
The painting perfectly depicted the exact cottage with the four different house animals that he had pictured in his mind when his dad had explained it to him. In fact, his dad had revealed much more than just this painting to James. He had finally disclosed that the Potter's were actually the descendants of Godric Gryffindor. Lily had been wrong. Anyways, this paintings identity had been passed down through their family for over a century. The family only knew of one other person who hadn't been one of Gryffindor's descendants who had found the room. But, she had ended up becoming an Auror and his grandfather's wife.
James looked at his watch. It was past midnight, and he was starving.
"Ugh, I'll come back here later. I need to make a run to the kitchens."
And with that, he left the picture of the painting, eager to explore, and visit the kitchens, with this new invisible liberty. He smiled smugly realizing he couldn't get caught by any stupid professors or caretakers or Slytherins or Lily Evans.
