Erised
Chapter 2- Howling Dogs and Solid Barriers
A/n- I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. I've had tests ALL week! Plus, I had a fever. Well, I'm finally able to update. So here it is……Chapter 2!
Disclaimer- I got a lot of my ideas for my story from The Gilded Lily by Mandy and some from Predictability by Y. Kuang (Y. Kuang is a friend of mine from school. She's my best friend!) They were both great stories. If you haven't read them, be sure to!
The day of Lily's departure was very hectic. People were running, packing, eating, doing all sorts of things. Lily was trying to close her suitcase, Petunia was unsuccessfully trying to get Lily's owl, Snowy, to shut up-It was hooting very loudly. Mrs. Evans was running around the house, cooking, cleaning, helping Lily, answering the phone, and watching the news. Mr. Evans was eating and attempting to stuff an enormous suitcase in his car trunk-which was impossible to do seeing how he didn't notice that he had left the new mini-fridge in there, which he had bought from the store the day before.
At 8:30 A.M., Mr. and Mrs. Evans, Petunia, and Lily, with all of Lily's belongings, and her owl, squeezed together in their tiny car, drove towards the train station. They got there at 8:47 A.M.-17 minutes later. Lily told her parents to go home; she didn't want one of those long mushy goodbyes. After her parents and Petunia finally left-Petunia had to drag her sobbing parents back to the car-Lily was faced with the hardest, most complicated task of all. How to get onto platform 9 ¾. She asked some people, and she immediately gave up. Everyone looked at her as if she had gone loony. She turned around, and sighed. It was hopeless. Then, she saw him. Or rather, to be precise, she saw a large owl with beautiful golden-brown feathers that shined, then she saw him. He was standing next to a man, evidently his father. The father was talking to another man, whom Lily recognized as Daniel Lappers. The man Daniel was talking to was tall-very tall. He was approximately 6'3", and had dark hair. He was lean, and, seeing how Daniel was talking to him, he was a man of great importance. His son, who was also quite tall, had dark hair, like his father. But unlike his father, the boy's hair was messy. It looked as if it hadn't been combed. His skin was pale white, but not pale as in Snow White, but more of a very natural white. And to contrast with his skin, he had deep set dark brown eyes with a ring of blue around them. He was very handsome indeed. Lily looked around her and noticed that girls of all ages had their eyes on him, some sending him smiles. However, he didn't smile back at them. He was, instead, looking straight at…………her!!!!
*~*~*~*~*
Lily felt her face redden as girls sent her looks of envy. She decided to be brave. She took a deep breath, then started to walk towards the boy. When she finally reached him, she saw that his dark brown eyes not only had a ring of blue around them, but little flecks of gold. She smiled at him, not sure what to do.
"Hello. My name is Lily. Lily Rose Evans," Lily said nervously, " Er…Sir, could you please help me?" She asked the father as Daniel Lappers left to talk to someone else-"Hey! Long time no see eh? Well, I have to go talk to ol' Barty crouch. Ah! There he is now!"
"Hello Miss Evans. I am a very busy man. I do not have time to waste, so make sure your question is important," the man said.
"Oh! I'm sorry Mr……" Lily started.
"Potter. James Potter," the man replied.
"Oh. Er…is your son going to Hogwarts Mr. Potter?"
"Why yes, he is. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way. I have business to attend," he answered. As he walked away Lily heard someone say "Oh Mr. Gryffindor! It's a pleasure to meet you! Oy! Lydia! Guess who I just saw! I just saw Godric Gryffindor's great grandson!"
"I thought your father's name was Potter. He did say his name was James Potter, didn't he?" Lily pondered.
"Yes. That is his name," the son replied.
"Then why is he calling him Gryffindor?" Lily asked.
"It's a very long story. You'll find out when you get to Hogwarts." The son replied.
"Oh! That reminds me. What is your name?"
"James Potter Jr.," he replied.
"So, James, you are going to Hogwarts? Are you a first year? Do you know what Hogwarts is like? And do you, by any chance, know how to get onto platform 9 ¾?" Lily inquired.
"Er…let's see…yes…er…yes, sort of, and…what was your last question? Oh, right, er… and yes," James replied, mulling things over.
"So…could you tell me how to get onto the platform?" Lily asked.
"You don't know how to get onto the platform? It's very simple really. Do you see that solid barrier right there? The one between platforms 9 and 10? Yes, that's the one. First you walk up to that, get down on all fours like a dog, then you howl as loud as you can like a dog howling at the moon three times. Then stand up and go to that pole on the left of the barrier, yes that one, and bang your head on it three times. Then a small door will appear between the pole and the barrier. Just open it and walk right through," James replied in a very serious manner. Too serious, in fact. Lily stared at James as if he had just grown 25 more heads and sprouted wings. But after she thought a while, she decided that, being a witch and going to a school for witches and wizards, that if he did grow 25 more heads and sprouted wings, it wouldn't be so unusual. But to someone who didn't have magic, it would have been very, very frightening.
"Er…are you quite certain?" Lily asked, a bit shocked at what she was being told to do.
"Yes. Of course!" James replied.
"Er…okay…I guess…" Lily said, still recovering from the shock generated by his answer.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily walked towards the barrier.
"Here goes," Lily thought to herself. All of a sudden she felt very shy. She got down on all fours and tilted her head skywards.
"Howooooooo! Howoooooooo! Howoooooooo!" Lily howled loudly three times. People stared at her. She felt her white face redden even more-if that was possible, seeing how she was so red already that she looked like someone had poured a bucket of red paint on her- as she heard a man walk by saying to his friend, "Man. She sure is beautiful. Its too bad she's gone loony."
Lily didn't notice James standing a couple of feet behind her, laughing his head off. She got up and walked over to the pole.
"Come on Lily! Don't chicken out now!" She thought to herself.
"Ow!! Ow!! OW!!!!!!" Lily cried as she smacked her head into the metal pole. More people stared. She stopped and waited, expecting the door to appear. But Lily didn't get anything she wanted. She didn't get the door to appear. She didn't get the people to stop staring. Instead, she got a very big headache. Furiously, she stomped over to James.
*~*~*~*~*
"Ow!" James yelled. Lily, who was filled with rage and ready to explode, had marched over to James and slapped him square on his left cheek with all the strength she could muster-which, by the way, is a lot of strength, especially when she's angry.
"Why you little…You are such a prat! How dare you make me do that! How dare you lie to me! HOW DARE YOU!" Lily's voice got louder and louder. "DO YOU ALWAYS GO AROUND MAKING PEOPLE LOOK LIKE FOOLS! SEEING HOW YOUR FATHER IS SO PROPER AND WELL RESPECTED BY PEOPLE, I WILL ASSUME THAT I AM RIGHT WHEN I SAY THAT HE MUST THINK OF YOU A NUISANCE!" Lily screamed. She looked at James and immediately started to regret what she said. James's face showed hurt and pain. But immediately he regained his posture and the emotion his face had shown was gone. Now his expression was unreadable.
"If you want to get on the platform, just walk through the barrier," James said, his voice filled with anger. His expression was, however, unreadable.
"And you want me to believe you? What if I walk straight into the barrier? Wouldn't I be making a greater fool out of myself?" Lily replied.
"Fine. Don't believe me. But just lean on it, and you'll fall straight through. But it only works if you're a witch or wizard or some sort of magical creature. Muggles won't fall through. It's just a solid barrier to them. They can lean on it without falling through." James said.
"Muggles?"
"People with no magic. Like your family, I presume." And with that, James walked away.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily stood in front of the barrier. She decided to see if James was actually telling her the truth. She put her left shoulder on the barrier and leaned on it. She expected to feel the cold bricks that the barrier was made of. Instead, she fell right through the barrier.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily looked around. She saw people walking around, talking, doing all different things. She also saw…owls. There were owls of all different sizes. And there were men and women wearing robes and hats, standing next to their muggle dressed children! She looked up and saw a sign of colossal size. It read:
Platform 9 ¾ Hogwarts Express*~*~*~*~*
Lily got onto the train. She wandered through it until she found an empty compartment. She walked in and sat down. She remembered the boy, James, back in King's Cross station. Or, rather, the muggle part of King's Cross station. She wondered if he really was a first year. That was when she heard the compartment door slide open. Three boys entered, one of them in front, evidently the leader of the group, while the other two followed behind. They were talking to each other. Lily looked up to see who they were, or rather, what they looked like. She saw the leader first. It was James.
A/n- so? I know it isn't that long. But I don't think that I'll make my chapters too long. It takes too long to type, which means longer to update. Anyway, reviews PLEASE!!!!!!! Thanks!