A/N- Thank you to all of you who replied to my first chapter! I'm not a failure after all::Bursts into tears:: Ok, I'm finished. There will be a complete 'thank you' at the end of this chapter. The same thing stands, please, no flames. Fire burns, burns scar, and scars last forever.
Disclaimer- I own nothing you recognize, that all belongs to the wonderful J. K. Rowling. All you do not recognize, is mine.
A/N- One more thing, I don't really agree with the quote below, so don't kill me, but as this is a love/hate story, I thought it was appropriate. Enjoy! Emily
Chapter 2
Friends and Foes
"Often we have no time for our friends, but all the time in the world for our enemies."
-Leon Uris
When next Tuesday rolled around, Lily was bursting with excitement, and curiosity. Her mother and she left their house at 11 in the morning. When they got to the spot where the Leaky Cauldron was supposed to be, they found it really was there.
"Oh, Mother! It's not a joke, it's real! I'm a real witch!" Lily exclaimed when they saw the Leaky Cauldron.
"Calm down, Lily." Her mother said. They went inside where they were greeted by Tom. "Hello, I am Rose Evans, and this is my daughter, Lily Evans. She got this letter last week and it said to come here. Do you know anything about it?" She handed the letter to Tom.
"So you're going to Hogwarts this year, eh?" He said after he had read the letter. "Yes, you've come to the right place. I'll get you to Diagon Alley, follow me." He beckoned them forward and lead them through the bar and to a small walled courtyard. He counted the bricks, three up, two across, then tapped it three times. The wall opened to expose a long cobblestone street. "Welcome, to Diagon Alley." He said.
"Why thank you, Tom, but if you don't mind, can I ask you another question?" Rose asked.
"But of course." Tom said.
"Well, it says here, 'we await your owl by no later than July 31,' what does that mean?"
"Well, in the wizard world, we use owls to carry our mail. You probably got this letter by an owl delivering it, yes?"
"Well, yes, but where can we get an owl?"
"They sell them at Eeylops Owl Emporium."
"And that would be…"
"On Diagon Alley, but first you must go to Gringots to exchange your muggle money for wizard money. Muggle money will be no use to you in the wizard world. Now, I must be going, you'll find everything you need here. Have a great time at Hogwarts, Lily." Tom said and walked back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Thanks, I'm sure I will." Lily called after him. They stepped onto the cobblestone street that was Diagon Alley, looking around at all the strange things. They soon found the tall white building that was Gringots. They walked up the steps and into the building. They saw a rather ugly goblin.
"Um, excuse me, sir?" Rose said uncertainly to the Goblin.
"Hello, my name is Gembolon. How may I help you?" Gembolon said.
"Well, we need to exchange our money for wizard money."
"Ah, yes, how much would you like?"
"How much does one dollar get us?"
"Ten dollars will get you 2 galleons, 1 sickle, and 8 knuts." Gembolon said rather offhandedly.
"Two what, excuse me?" Rose said bewildered.
"Galleons. That's wizard money. There are 17 sickles to a galleon, 29 knuts to a sickle."
"All right, well, then I will give you 100 dollars." Rose said, still confused.
"Here are your 20 galleons, 13 sickles, and 17 knuts." Gembolon said handing Rose a black bag. "Have a nice day." He said smiling a forced smile.
"You too." Rose said and pulled Lily out of the building. "Well, he was very rude, don't you think, Lily?"
"I suppose." Lily said.
"What did he say? Seventeen what to one galleon, and 29 something or other to one what?"
Lily laughed. "It was 17 sickles to one galleon, and 29 knuts to one sickle."
"Yes, that's right." Rose said. They came to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Why don't you go and get your robes, and I will go get your books over there." Rose said pointing to Flourish and Blotts which was next door to Madam Malkin's.
"All right," Lily said, "but I'll need some money." Rose handed her some galleons.
"I'll meet you in front of Flourish ad Blotts in 15 minutes." Lily nodded and headed into Madam Malkin's. She met a plump witch.
"Hello, dear, Hogwarts too?" She asked. Lily nodded and the plump witch brought her to the back of the store where there was already a girl getting measured. She had dirty blonde hair that was to her shoulders. There were two pieces of hair each about half an inch wide on either side of her face that were shorter, however. They were cut right below her cheerful light blue eyes.
"Hello," the girl said, "I'm Rachel McKelly, what's your name?"
"Lily Evans. Are you going to Hogwarts for your first time too?" Lily asked.
"Yes." Rachel said.
"Me too! I didn't know about any of this until I got my letter!" Lily said.
"Really? Neither did I!"
"Well, dear, you're all done. Here are your robes." Madam Malkin said handing Rachel a package. Rachel hopped off the stool she was standing on.
"Well, I'll look for you on September 1st. 'Bye, Lily!" Rachel said as she walked out of the store.
"'Bye, Rachel." Lily said. Just as Rachel left, two boys walked in. Madam Malkin led them to the back of the store, as she did Lily, and stood them on stools next to Lily. They looked about the same age, only one was a little taller than the other. The taller one had shoulder length black hair and dark brown eyes that always seemed to be laughing. The smaller boy had messy black hair that looked as though it hadn't been brushed in a year, no, make that ever. He had chocolate brown eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. They started pinching and pushing each other trying to get the other to fall off their stool. The taller of the two finally succeeded in pushing the smaller one, whom was next to Lily, off his stool. He fell into Lily, pulling her down with him. She landed on her butt, with him on top of her. The taller boy just stood there laughing hysterically.
"Could you please get off of me." Lily asked angrily.
"No, I think I'll stay here, thanks." The smaller boy said. Lily pushed him off her. He fell onto the floor. Lily stood up.
"Hey, Sirius, help me up." the smaller boy asked the taller boy. Sirius was obviously the taller boy's name. He hopped off his stool, and walked over to the smaller boy, still laughing, he helped him up. Sirius held out his hand to Lily and said, "I'm Sirius Black, and the kid who fell on top of you is James Potter."
Lily looked at both James and Sirius. She looked as though she was going to shake his hand, then thought better of it. She pushed passed them, grabbed her package from Madam Malkin, paid her, and left the store. 'Anyone who would push me over, not apologize, and decide to stay sitting on me is not someone I would like to associate with. And anyone who is friends with the likes of him is not worth associating with.' Lily thought to herself as she waited for her mother to come out of Flourish and Blotts.
Her mother came out of the store a few minutes later carrying a stack of books. She saw Lily's expression, and asked, "Lily, what's wrong?"
Lily told her mother the whole Sirius/James story as they went along Diagon Alley looking for things.
"Boys. I don't know how anyone can put up with them." Lily told her mother as they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron. Her mother laughed.
"Don't misjudge them, Lily, they can be very sweet. It's not their fault that when they see a pretty girl they have to try and act all macho and try to impress them, it's just the way they are." Her mother told her.
"Maybe so, but they could at least apologize for knocking a girl, or anyone over." Lily said. "Well, at least I met a girl who will be going to Hogwarts this year and didn't know she was a witch either."
"Yes, that is good. What was her name again?" Her mother asked.
"Rachel McKelly. She said she would look for me on September 1st."
When they got home, Lily wrote a letter to Hogwarts telling them she would be attending, then tied it to her new owl's, Crystal, leg.
"Now, can you get this to Hogwarts for me, Crystal?" Lily said after she tied the letter to Crystal's leg. Crystal nipped Lily's ear in a reassuring way, then took off out the window.
Crystal was a female snowy owl. She wouldn't be very extraordinary, but the ends of each and every one of her feathers were silver that glistened in the sunlight, like crystal, hence her name.
After watching Crystal fly though the window and disappear into the sunshine, Lily went up to her room to unload all the things she bought. She picked up a book, Hogwarts, A History, and started to read it. She wasn't going to go to Hogwarts not knowing anything about it, or magic.
The weeks flew by, and soon enough, it was the night before Lily went to Hogwarts. She ran around putting everything in her trunk. Pants, shorts, shirts, skirts, her new robes, hair brush, hair ties, toothbrush, toothpaste, pictures, camera, school books, regular books, everything she needed, or thought she needed. She fell asleep at 10 o'clock.
The next morning, she woke up at 8 o'clock. She finished packing, then went downstairs for breakfast. Her mother, father, and Petunia were already eating. Petunia was throwing a tantrum, as usual, because she didn't want to go to King's Cross to see Lily off.
"It's not fair!" She yelled. "Why do I have to go to that freak show? I don't belong there! I don't want to go!"
"Petunia, please be quiet. You're going, and there's nothing you can say or do that will make me change my mind." Her mother said in a rather final tone. Petunia stopped yelling. She sat at the table with a scowl on her face. When Lily came down the stairs, her mother said, "Lily, are you all packed?"
"Yes, but I'm having a teeny bit of trouble getting my trunk down the stairs." Lily said. Her father got up, went up the stairs, and minutes later, was coming down the stairs with Lily's trunk in hand. He walked out the front door, and put her trunk in the car.
When he came back in, he said, "We had better get going. King's Cross is a good hour away and your train leaves at 11, right?"
"Yes." Lily replied.
"From what platform?" Her father asked.
"Um, let me check." Lily reached into her pocket and pulled out her train ticket. She looked at it and said, "Platform 9 and ¾."
"What platform?"
"Platform 9 and ¾. Really, Dad, do you need a hearing aid?"
"Let me see that ticket." Lily handed her father the ticket. He looked at it. After minutes of examining it, he said, "Well, this must be a misprint. I've never heard of Platform 9 and ¾. We'll just asked someone at King's Cross. Well, let's go." Lily and her mother followed her father out to the car. Petunia just sat at the table. After about a minute, her mother stuck her head back inside the house, and said, "Petunia, let's go." Petunia got up from the table, still scowling, and stomped all the way to the car. She sat as far away from Lily as she possibly could without falling out of the car.
They arrived at King's Cross at 10:30. They went up to a ticket barrier and asked them where Platform 9 ¾ was, they didn't know. Lily looked around for Rachel, but she was no where to be seen. They walked to Platform 9, then to Platform 10, but there was nothing in-between them. Finally, at 10:45, they were getting desperate. They looked for anyone with an owl. Finally, they spotted a boy with light blonde hair and clear blue eyes; he was carrying an owl. Lily walked up to him and asked, "Excuse me, but could you tell me how to get to Platform 9 ¾."
"Just walk straight through the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10." He replied.
"Oh, thanks a lot." Lily said then ran back to her parents. She kissed them goodbye and grabbed her cart.
"Don't forget to write!" Her mother said.
"Don't worry, I'll write as soon as I get there. 'Bye, Mom, 'bye, Dad! I'll miss you both so much! 'Bye, Petunia." She said then walked over to the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. She ran towards it. She closed her eyes, waiting to hit the barrier with full force, but to her surprise, it never came. She opened her eyes and saw a scarlet steam engine waiting next to the platform. She smiled then walked over to the train.
"Lily! Lily, over here!" She heard. Lily turned her head and saw Rachel hanging out of the window on the train. She walked over to her and said, "Hey, Rachel."
"Come on, Lily, I saved you a seat." Rachel disappeared from view and Lily walked onto the train. Rachel was there to help her get her trunk into the compartment. "I wanted to get a compartment all do ourselves, and succeeded, but then four boys came in and asked if they could sit there. What could I say? Three of them were very cute, so I said fine."
"That's ok, just as long as they aren't…" Lily stopped seeing who was in the compartment already.
"Hello, carrots." James said smiling. Lily groaned. She put her trunk in the compartment, then pulled Rachel back out into the hallway.
"How could you let him into the compartment?" Lily asked
"What? He seems nice, and he's cute." Rachel replied.
"Well, remember when we met in Madam Malkin's?" Rachel nodded. "Well, right after you left, James and Sirius came in. They kept pushing each other. Then finally, Sirius pushed James right off his stool. He fell on me, and knocked me on the ground with him. I asked him to get off me, but he said, 'No, I think I'll just stay here, thanks.' Do you believe that?"
"Lily, that's hardly anything to get mad at." Lily thought for a minute.
"No, I guess you're right, but if they do anything more to me, that's it, he'll be waking up with neon pink hair." Rachel laughed.
"You don't know how to do that yet, Lily." Rachel said.
"Well, let's just say I picked up some advanced books." Lily smiled mischievously. They walked back into the compartment and sat down.
"So, carrots, who's your friend?" James asked.
"This is Rachel McKelly." Lily said.
"Well, this is Remus Lupin," he said pointing to the boy who told Lily how to get to Platform 9 and ¾. Remus smiled. "And this is Peter Pettigrew." He said pointing to a squat boy with light brown hair and watery light blue eyes. 'He looks like a rat.' Lily said to herself. Peter squeaked. 'And sounds like one to.' Lily smiled.
"Nice to meet you both." Lily said.
"Oh, Lily dear," Sirius said, "you may want to check your trunk to see if anything's missing. I think I saw Jamesie take something out of it."
Lily jumped out of her seat, not a very good idea since the train had just started moving. She fell over and landed on James and Sirius.
"Do you mind?" James asked.
"No, I don't mind." Lily said. "Actually, I kind of like sitting on Sirius's lap." She winked at Rachel, then kissed Sirius. She stood up, fighting hard not to laugh at the dumb-founded faces of the four boys. She tried with all her might, but finally, she burst out laughing, Rachel followed suit. Lily opened her trunk to see that all of her underwear were gone. "James! Where are they?" Lily screamed. All four boys burst out laughing.
"Go ask slimy Snape in the next compartment, he may know." James managed to get out between laughs. Lily ran into the next compartment, Rachel on her heels. She threw back the door to find four boys sitting there, a bunch of girl's underwear sitting in the middle of the compartment. Lily blushed scarlet, grabbed her underwear, and ran back to her compartment. She stuffed them back into her trunk amidst gales of laughter. She turned to face the boys.
"James Potter, you had better watch your back. No one, and I mean no one embarrasses Lily Anne Evans and gets away with it." Lily said. James, Peter, and Remus stopped laughing, Sirius continued to laugh.
"Is that a threat?" James said calmly.
"No, it's a promise. I may look sweet and innocent on the outside, but mess with me and you will wish you had never heard of me."
"Yea, on the inside you're a slut." James said under his breath. Luckily for Lily, unluckily for James, Lily heard him.
"How dare you!" She screamed, then SMACK! She slapped him across the face. "I am anything but a slut. I was only joking with Sirius. I don't like sitting on his lap, or do I like him!" Lily said. Tears began to well up in her eyes. She sat back down, facing the window.
"That was low, James." Usually happy-go-lucky Sirius whispered. Now he was really serious (No pun intended). Remus nodded in agreement. Peter just stared with his mouth open.
Thank You's!
Noelle- The Marauders were in this chapter, happy? But I would still like that sundae… I checked out your stories and replied to one of them. You're a great writer!
Jenn- There probably won't be any love between Lily and James for a while, other characters, maybe…
Sinead- I'm glad you liked my story! I tried to make it as realistic as I could, I'm glad I succeeded in doing that!
GoOfBaLL- I'm glad you thought my chapter was 'pretty cool.' Did I get this chapter out quick enough for you?
Starwriter- Don't worry, I was going to continue this story even if I got no reviews! It's nice to hear that I write well:)
LilyPotter- Yes, that was a GOOD review! I guess I said that I was bad because I haven't gotten many 'good reviews' on my other stories.
vally girl- I'm glad you thought it was good.
glo-stik- I loved your long review! It makes me happy! I'm glad my beginning was good! I also love Lily/James love/hate fics (as I told you in the beginning of the story). I have read 'The Flower and the Stag,' 'The Parents who Died,' 'Snapdragon and Prongs,' 'The Damsels of Distress,' and many more Lily/James fics. I have not read, 'A New Beginning,' or 'Lessons of Life,' so I'll have to do that… I hope your babysitting went well. I babysit every other weekend, so I know what its like.
HEDWIG- I'm glad my story was 'good and wonderful!' I was hoping it would be!
Star- Of course I will keep writing! You don't have to worry about that! I was going to continue even if I got no reviews!
kimberly- Don't worry, you didn't sound impatient! I hope you liked this chapter!
Kate- You're right. I remembered that the first book was written in 1990, so Harry would have been born in 1980. Thanks for pointing that out and I canged the dates in the first chapter. I'm glad my fic was one of the best you've ever read! Yay for me:)
Devonny Stratton- I'm glad you liked it a lot! And of course I will finish it! I was already planing on finishing it, even if I got no reviews!
Megan- I'm glad you love Lily and James fics! I do too! I will try not to make it predictable, but it may end up that way because I don't know your definition of 'predictable' is. I'm not one to make really long chapters, but I am trying. How was the length of this one?
Katrine- Yay! My story was interesting! Thanks!
Evita Potter- Did you get my e-mail? Well, if you are reading this, I guess you did. I'm glad you liked my story!
ME- I will definitely keep going, don't worry!
Calypso Re- Ahhh! Don't kill me! I got out the next part as fast as I could! Please don't kill me! LoL. I'm glad you are liking my story!
phoenixvscrazysnow- I'm glad it was wonderful! I'll keep writing, don't you worry!
Avadriz- Yay! So you're going to review this chapter, huh! Yay! I will keep writing, but of course! So you can keep reviewing:)
EVE- I'm glad it was funny! I try!
Destiny's Angel- I'm glad my story was cool! I will continue, for sure!
pheonix dreams- I will keep going, don't worry! I'm glad I got off to a good start. Imagine if I hadn't? Well, for one thing, I would have as many reviews as I have!
Thanks to all the people reading this right now, but can you do something for me? Can you go to that little blue box below and review? Thanks! Emily