Disclaimer: None of the characters (except for in later chapters) in this fanficition belong to moi. They all belong to the wonderful J. K. Rowling. So please don't sue me. Oh yes, but several characters coming up in future chapters are mine... I'll let you know, though! Thank you for your time and patience. And now on to the story! *Giggles insanely*

Chapter Two: Conversing With Freaks

Lily was just about suicidal. Maybe it was because she hated the scenery of rolling green hills passing by endlessly. Perhaps she was just lonely for her friend. Possibly, it was because her parents had been singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" for the third time in two hours. Whatever the reason, as soon as the car had come to a stop, Lily all but jumped through the windshield.

She groaned as she tried to walk for the first time in two hours. Her father had refused to stop the car saying after the lunch break saying, "We need to make time!"

Whatever time he wanted to make, Lily would never know. They left London at about 8 o'clock in the morning, and it was now only quarter past two... They still had plenty of time to explore.

Finally having stretched her aching muscles enough, Lily dared to look around her. What met her gaze was nothing like London. There were fields of green rising and falling all around them, and the street they were on barely had any houses on it at all. Just a few chickens running about... nothing much at all...

"Isn't this house wonderful?" Richard boomed to his family, "Isn't this place wonderful?"

Lily spun around on the spot for a moment, trying to figure out which one of their houses was her family's; all of the homes on the street looked the same.

"Er—dad?"

"Yes Lily dear,"

"Which one's ours?"

"Oh," Richard replied merrily, "see that one over there?"

"No, really daddy," Petunia said, slouching over, "which house is ours?"

"I'm being serious, girls... That one right over there!"

Petunia's mouth dropped open as Lily's eyes got bright. Both girls stared at an old, grey, Victorian-era home.

"No dad, I think you've made a mistake," Petunia said finally, "I mean, isn't it a tad too run-down?" she glanced at one of the broken windows and the gate which was falling off of its hinge.

"I must admit. It is a bit of a fixer-upper... But its nothing that a little family teamwork can't fix." Richard said to his daughter.

"I think this home is fantastic, " Lily whispered under her breath. It was just like all of the old homes in the stories she liked to read... Ancient, dark, and probably haunted....

"Just more fun," she smirked. With that, she picked up her trunk and followed the rest of her family to the heavy wooden door that guarded its entrance.

Lily nearly gagged as the musty smell of mold filled her nostrils. Not only was this place ancient, dark, and probably haunted, but it reeked too.

Slowly she turned around and glanced at everything in the room. Slightly to her left was a large staircase, and to her right was what seemed to be the parlor. Straight ahead was the long hallway that lead to the kitchen. Neatly dropping her bags onto her sister's foot, she followed her father down the corridor into the kitchen. Here and there, she found a door; one leading to the bath, another was a storage closet, and another led to the cellar.

"This place is so big... I could probably get lost in it and die of starvation," Lily breathed.

"Not a bad idea, " Petunia remarked dryly.

Richard chose to ignore that last statement and casually went to the wall switch and flicked it up. Nothing happened.

"Lil, will you go find another light bulb, please?"

"Maybe... If I don't will you move me halfway across the country again?," she asked.

Lily did the first sensible thing that came to mind, and checked all the drawers in the kitchen for some spare bulbs. She rummaged around in this one then that one, finding nothing more than a few pieces of paper and a few glass baubles... nothing more than junk.

"Dad, I'll be right back," she called over her shoulder and tore down the hallway, almost colliding with one of the movers, who was bringing up her chest of drawers. She skidded to a halt in front of her mother who was directing where the furniture was to be placed in the parlor at the time.

"What is it Lily?" her mother asked in a tired tone. The ride up to the new house had been hard on her too; she had to pry her daughters apart on more than one occurrence to keep them from driving the whole car off a cliff.

"Dad just wanted to know if we had any spare light bulbs," she said.

"Oh, " Marianne sighed, relieved. She beckoned to her daughter to follow her into the living room and proceeded to throw around various bags and objects until she found the one she wanted. She handed it to her daughter with a kiss, "here you go, dear."

"Thanks mum," Lily said. Slowly she turned around and began walking back to the kitchen, not paying much attention to what she was doing; her head was stuck all the way into the burlap handbag searching for a spare bulb.

"Gotcha!" Lily smiled triumphantly as she held it up to the light. This, however, didn't do much good since everything in the house was just a little more shadowy than usual. "Dad! I have the last one!" she yelled into the kitchen.

Yet, if she had been watching where she was walking instead of watching the light bulb, Lily might have actually gotten it into the kitchen in one piece.

"Hrrmph!" she gasped as she tripped over a piece of the upturned carpet. The light bulb she had been grasping just moments earlier like a prize trophy slipped out of her grasp. Lily watched in utter horror as the light fell downward towards the floor in an alarming pace.

CRASH!

The little round piece of glass hit the ground and shattered. Little slivers exploded everywhere around Lily's feet.

"Damnit!" she cursed loudly.

The sound of her father scraping up off the floor and stomping down the hallway told her she did something very, very wrong. His face was an ugly yellow color and his lips, which were usually curved up into a cheerful smile, were now pursed.

"What did you just say?" his voice was very even and quiet. The movers who were carrying up Petunia's bed at the moment stopped... only a second, though, because it was family business.

"Um—" Lily mumbled. No idiot would repeat that word in front of her father.

"That's what I thought," Richard said finally. He firmly grasped his daughter's arm and dragged her up the stairs, "Robert," he nodded and smiled to a passing mover.

"You know that I'm not happy about this," Richard said to his daughter as soon as Robert was out of earshot, "to think that my own child has the nerve to use that sort of language. I hope you know how much you've disappointed me."

"You'd be ready to disown me if you ever found out what type of language I'm capable of," Lily said.

"Look," her father said as he led her into a room, "I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but I don't like it! Not at all. You're grumpy, sarcastic... What's the matter?"

"What's the matter?" Lily asked him in disbelief, "How can you not know what the matter is? You've practically kidnapped me and stuck me here in the middle of nowhere! I've no one to talk to, no one to listen. Alison is probably having a grand old time back in London, without me! And I hate it here, I hate it here, I hate it here, and I hate YOU for bringing me here!" she finished this last part in a rather shrill tone; this was the first time since their departure that she was trying very hard not to cry.

"Lilian, I know this move is difficult on you. When I had to move from Trewissick I hated it. But you can't just mope on like this... You're going to hurt yourself if you keep this up."

"So,"

"Just try to enjoy it up here. I know it's not what your used to, but I think you'll like it," he patted her shoulder and began to walk away, Lily in close pursuit.

"And where do you think you're going," he said, finally turning around.

"Downstairs,"

"Oh no you don't," he put a hand out to stop her, "you are going to stay up here for the rest of the night."

"WHAT?" Lily's eyes went wide, "you can't!"

"You need to learn how to think before you speak," Richard stated simply, "next time if you wish to say something, make sure it's appropriate."

"Dad,"

But Lily's father just shook his head no. Before long, he disappeared behind the door, and Lily was left alone.

"Great job, idiot," she told herself, "you got yourself grounded in less than an hour after arrival!"

Sighing, she took a look around. Ugly peach-colored walls stared back at her. 'Everything in this house is so homely,' she thought. She barely realized that what she thought at this point contrasted severely to what she thought earlier. The movers had definitely brought up all of her belongings. There was just one problem. This was not her room. Her room was two-hundred miles away in London.

London. Her mind now drifted back to her home. Her old home. How she wanted to be back there, in her room with her friend. Not here. Never here. Here, she was alone. She had nobody. Well, except for her cat, but Brownie didn't count. Being alone, though, has its advantages, she said to herself. True, she could start on her part of the house before everyone else. She mite as well make the best of it.

Soon she proceeded to move objects around her bedroom —correction— the room that she would be sleeping in but not her bedroom, as that was in London. She grumbled to herself... Something about those movers not having any sense. They had put her collection of porclain dolls underneath a box of books. Grumpily, she swept around the room, picking up odds and ends, books and toys, bags of clothes and hair pins (she had refused to cut her hair, and it was now way bassed her shoulders). Despite herself, though, she began to hum, having a good time rearranging her possessions.

¤~*~¤~*~¤~*~¤

Finally, after long hours of work, the last thing she dared to touch was her bed. She strained hard to slide it across the floor, and it managed to leave deep gashes in the wooden floor beneath it. Again she tried to throw her weight against it, but it only gave way a few more inches. 'If only I was as fat as my cousin Betty,' Lily thought. Exhausted, she slumped down next to one of its legs and groaned.

Suddenly, the bed fell out from behind her, and she flew onto her back, her legs falling up infront of her. The poor bed itself went flying across the room at a speed which amazed Lily and landed in a loud crash on the other side.

"Strange," she mused from her vantage point, which was currently upside-down.

"Lily!" her mother yelled up the stairs, "what's going on up there?"

"Er, nothing mum," Lily answered back. She was having a hard time talking. Her spit had gathered at the back of her throat, making it very difficult to swallow. "I just tripped and knocked over the bedside, that's all!"

Lily could hear her mother murmuring something in response, but didn't pay much attention to it. What really startled her was the fact that her bed just slid across the room as if it was on ice. Either that, or she had developed amazing mutant powers... However she doubted this. Lily sat bolt upright. What really had happened? Tiptoeing to her bed, she tried to lift one side up. When something popped in her back, she knew she had gone too far, but her mind still raced for an answer.

"Maybe this place really is haunted,"

"Now that would be a surprise, wouldn't it?" another voice answered.

Startled, Lily looked up. Slowly, she surveyed the room. Her green eyes wide with fear, she searched every dark crevice in the room. Finally in hope of finding nothing, she looked at her window.

"What the..."

Staring back at her was a boy who looked to be her age. Sitting peacefully on a branch of an oak tree, his wild, black hair was ruffled by a breeze. His dark eyes were partially hidden by his round glasses, which he pushed back up onto the bridge of his nose. He stared back at the young girl with an amused expression on his face and chuckled. A faint glimmer of silver near his wrist also caught Lily's eye, but she just assumed it was his wrist watch.

Lily smiled back sweetly, but her good mood vanished almost instantly. "Who are you, what are you doing, and how long have you been sitting up there doing what you're going to tell me you're doing?"

"Could you rephrase that last part?"

Lily took a deep, calming breath and started again, "How long have you been up there?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely,"

"Get on with it," Lily snapped.

"I would if you'd stop interrupting,"

"I am not,"

"Are too, "

"No,"

"Yeah,"

"Nope,"

"Yes, "

"Oh hush up," Lily hissed.

"Then I can't answer any of your questions, now can I?"

"Then please— get on with it!"

"Not if you keep interrupting,"

"I AM NOT!"

"Déjà vu?"

"Just tell me your name," Lily said, frusterated.

"James Potter, at your service," He drooped his head in a ridiculous-looking bow, as he was sitting in a tree.

"Okay James, what are you doing?"

"Talking to you," he said innocently.

"Thank you, but what were you doing before that?"

"Arguing with you,"

Lily cursed inwardly before speaking again. Whoever this kid —James— was, he obviously liked to drive people mad... Especially when they're grounded.

"Look, er James," she started uncertainly— she absolutely didn't want to start another arguement, "why have you been looking through my window?"

"For your information, your majesty, I've been looking through your window waiting for you to get sweaty enough to take off a couple of layers," his eyes glinted mischieviously, "Or if you prefer, the whole thing."

Lily glared daggers at this boy. She would have said (before that last comment) that he was a nice boy... just a little arguementative. But now she knew his gross sense of humor... Or what she thought was humor. She stormed angrily to her window to slam it shut, 'Hopefully breaking those stupid glasses in the process,'.

"I was just kidding you know, " he started.

She reached up to pull the window shut, but he stuck out an arm to stop her, "No, seriously. I was just sitting up in my tree, thinking— if you can believe that— when you came in."

"Your tree?"

"Yes, my tree. It is on my family's property, you know. I'm your new next door neighbor," he pointed to a house a little way's away. It was certainly larger than any of the other homes on the street and much more grand. "I thought I'd say 'hello' after you got up off of the floor..."

"Well," Lily said, a smile tugging at her lips, "you could've done that in some other way than almost giving me a heart-attack,"

James looked thoughtful, "I suppose, but that wouldn't be as much fun now would it?"

"No," she said finally, "I guess it wouldn't," she smiled falsely, and without saying another word, she slammed the window shut and drew down the shades.

A.N. Hey people! I hope you like this story so far! This chapter is a bit longer than the last, as you can see, and it took a lot longer too! So, please be kind and R/R! It'll help a lot for my low self-esteem! J/K! Peace out until the next chapter! Love to all those who review!

And a special thanks to those special people who reviewed the last chapter. You guys give me motivation! :)

Kelton- It shows promise? YIPPEE!!! And I'll try to keep original! I promise!

Skye007lex- Thank you! ^_^

Lexie- I think your story is cute so far. I'm only on chapter 3 though... I still have to keep reading!

JR- I will keep on writing! Thanks for the review!

Harmony's Angel- Aaw... gee... thanks!

Queenoftheworld- I'm a fantastic writer? ::blushes:: Oh no I'm not. You just want to see my head explode because of my growing ego.... And I think you're a pretty good writer myself!

HeRsHeYkIsSeS17- Now how did you know James ws gonna make an appearance in chapter 2? You psychic or sumthin'? LoL!

SleepieCareBear- Thank you very much!