****Lily is a bit of a lonely first year, she doesn't know many people,
especially anyone popular, like James potter. She meets a bit of a weird
future Slytherin, then one of James friends, when she is in a bit of a
sticky situation in the girls loos. Alison helps her out, and introduces
her to her friends, but when James and Lily fall out big time, how will the
rest of the group react? James and Lily are forced to resolve it
themselves, or they will suddenly be friendless. But is there a scheme
going on in this resolution?
****First things first. SOS!!!! for not updating *with sullen glance,* to anyone who's REVIEWED.
Back to happier thoughts...Hiya! It's glumfroggie here! Wow!!!!! Four whole reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm not even being sarcastic!!!!!!!! Thanx you guys sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooo much! You have no idea how happy those made me feel, (well actually, I may b underestimating your powers of distinguishing how happy some1 is judging by the number of 'o's that they put in 'so') I was jumping for joy and everyone was getting reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally pissed off with me. Ya. You can imagine y. NEway. Back to thanking everyone hu reviewed my story PROFUSELY! I LUV YOU GUYS! Thanx! C U soon with the next chappie that will be posted some time . ahem. Also, I don't want to confusel (confusel is my latest word, innit cooooooool? BTW, it means confused, just in case you didn't know,) anyone, but my pen name is actually Glumfrog, not glumfroggie, I just sign glumfroggie, coz I'm that kinda gal! cooooooooooooooooooooooooool, (am fond of putting way too many letters in words that don't need it, as you can probably see, ummmmmmmmm hehe, see! There I go again, sombodyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy stooooooooooooooop meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...
sos bout dat... um yeah,
Bibi!****
Every Witch (almost wrote 'with' then!) has her Silver Lining
What, doesn't everyone fall into the lake on their first day?
.The door swung open to reveal .a mole? - skin over coat! What the hell would wear a moleskin? Something barbaric, Lily decided, and she shrunk away from the figure approaching. It's head was hidden in a matt of frizzy, tangled black hair and Lily could se no skin or any other sign of humanity under the moleskin - other than the hair, of course. There was something sincerely odd about it though. But, for once, Lily's curiosity did *not* get the better of her and she stayed well back.
Only when the figure turned around, did Lily realise what an idiot she had been. The figure was, of course, human, and the reason that it had looked 'sincerely odd' was because it had been facing the opposite way.
From through the doorway, parallel to where she was sitting, she could hear muffled, red-faced, mutterings and snickers. She presumed the snickers were emanating form the opposite car, and that the huge being was not snickering at itself, because it seemed to be having great difficulty moving from car to car. Apparently the doors just 'weren't bloody wide enough', quoting directly.
When the figure did, eventually, turn to face them, one of the boys that she hadn't spoken to yet, (Lily forced her self to believe that this was because she just didn't want to, not at all because she was scared! How childish!) rushed forward to greet the oversized being.
Lily promptly leaned over to Cleo, who was sitting beside her, and whispered
"I think this guy needs to cut down on the trifles, hmm?"
Lily felt a slight pang of guilt at insulting this man's size, but it was worth the expression on Cleo's face (After all, she didn't even know this man). Cleo tried to frown, but couldn't help sniggering, all the same.
Alison, who had evidently heard, whispered, "Lily, you shouldn't say things like that!"
"I know," she giggled back, "But I just can't help it!" Whilst the girls where sniggering, she caught sight of the boy who had rushed forward to greet the monstrously large individual turn and frown hard in her direction.
So engrossed was Lily in sizing up the big being, that she hadn't noticed that he had a little trail of many, many people who all looked like first years following behind him. She probably hadn't been able to see them before, she reflected, because of the huge commodity of the man.
All this happened in a matter of seconds, however, because a moment later, Lily was being herded like cattle along with the rest of the people suddenly in the last compartment out of there in a gruff way, by the giant man. A gruff way which suited his gruff voice.
"Jus' leave yer luggage on the train, yeh'll get it later, don't you worry. All yeh lot, come with me."
Lily was uncomfortably last out of the compartment. The others had shoved and pushed her out of the line (she was sure not purposefully) and it was very obvious that she was desperate to be out of there, which made it particularly embarrassing when she wasn't. She saw him give her a slight frown on their way out, which made her shirk, and shuffle away awkwardly.
Lily still didn't know where the hell she was going, and if this guy who was leading her was nice or nasty. She didn't even know his name. Naturally, she assumed that they were supposed to follow him, because the boy from their compartment had greeted him with such eagerness, and none of the others appeared to be protesting in any way.
Since Lily was last out of the compartment, everyone else had paired off into little conversation partners, or groups, and Lily had no-one to go with, so she trudged along alone. It seemed to take a while to get wherever it was they were going - hopefully the school -, and soon she began to tune in to the conversation of the boy from her compartment and the giant whom she had christened semi-human.
"I think I'm gonna ask Dumbledore" "if I can wait by the platform for the first years," "Instead of trudgin' through the WHOLE train collectin' 'em up as I go." That was the big man.
Lily could tell the boy was avoiding the subject of the semi-human's magnitude, "Yes! That's a great idea. It's better in many ways! Including the fact that some of the first years many get lost on your way to the end compartment, and it'll... be quicker! Do you normally go through the train like that then?" That was the boy. Lily noted that it was a rather rushed response. She could tell a lot from the openings of people's conversations.
"Yeah.Ahem. Ne'er seed you out side o' yer neighbourhood before, 'ave I, boy?"
"No. The only time I ever see you is at Mum's house." "Oh, no wait! I saw you once in Diagon ally!" Lily remembered this as the place that she had had to go shopping for her wand and robes for school. She was glad she finally understood what they were talking about.
"Ah yes!" There was a slight pause. But Lily could tell it wasn't an uncomfortable pause, like the one that she an Kari had shared, but a contented, relaxed one. Lily was suddenly slightly envious of the boy.
"Sooo, Hagrid," Lily had made a great discovery. "Where are we going again?" That was the boy again. Lily could tell he was winding him up. But Hagrid obviously couldn't. He almost exploded.
"James Potter" ! Lily was thoroughly confused. She would have to ask Cleo and Ally later, when she had finished eavesdropping. (It, just then suddenly occurred to Lily that she *was* eavesdropping, but she didn't have much time to dwell on that, not if she wanted to hear the rest of the sentence. She had already found out some pretty useful stuff, maybe she could find out more about this strange wizarding world that she was being introduced to and relate it back to Ally and Cleo later. "I should think you, of all people should.the. houses" Hagrid had trailed off, obviously becoming aware of the silent laughter that James was doubled up in.
To James Potter, this was a huge joke, but to Lily Evans, it was a huge reminder. For instance, the houses. She had never actually found out about them, or what they were. They were probably different to those she had used in her mudd - muGGle school; they belonged to Hogwarts, for God's sakes! Lily would have been surprised if they weren't different. Also, she suddenly remembered that Remus and Sirius were mudd - MUGGLES too. How did they know so much about the Wizarding world already? And how come they had so many friends so fast?
Lily had so much pounding through her head that she was afraid she would forget it all, so she rushed over to where Cleo and Alison were walking, suddenly recognising Alison's dark hair and started talking so fast that neither Alison nor Cleo were able to understand her.
"WOA, woa, woa, slow down, girl, what are you saying?"
"I'm ASKING you about houses." Then proceeded to mutter under her breath, "boy do I have a lot to tell you!"
"And what is *that* supposed to mean?" Asked Cleo indignantly. She had drawn herself up so that her chest stuck out and her bottom lip was almost touching her neck. She looked so ridiculous that both Alison and Lily had to laugh. Cleo looked quite proud of herself, and this made them laugh even harder. This delay caused Lily's chance to question her friends about everything that she had heard in James' and Hagrid's conversation, because, by the time everyone had stopped laughing, Hagrid had stopped, and turned to the forlorn freezing band of pupils following him obediently, and bellowed his gruff voice out into the silent night.
"Hello, Everyone! I'm Hagrid, well, Reubeus, to be pehnickehty, but yehs can call me Hagrid, the Gamekeeper fer Hogwarts! All yeh firs' years, we'll be comin' 'round to some boats soon. 'Round that corn'r. Three, mebe four to a boat. No crowdin' or you'll sink. Hehehe, jus' jokin'," He held his stomach in big, bellowing laughter, "yeh gullible lot. Ah, here we are. Hop in then."
As they rounded the corner, a long dock full of many creaking boats that Lily didn't think looked too reliable came into view. The water slapped their sides, and she could see little limpets and crustaceans stuck onto the bottom adamantly whenever the little things rocked. They were probably all that was holding the boat together. Alison, Lily and Cleo automatically headed for the boat at the end, simultaneously. Lily got in first and pulled a face as she sat down.
"Oh my, how I love having a wet bottom." Both her friends laughed, but Lily noticed how they stayed well away from where Lily had sat.
Every time the boat swayed, new dollops of water came sloshing over the little boat's side. Lily withered the poor air that just happened to be in the way of her glare as water splashed into her shoes, and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. Judging by these boats, wherever the hell they were going to take her, and the state of the over *over* large gamekeeper, this magnificent 'castle' that she had heard everyone going on about, that was Hogwarts, was probably just going to be some old shack in the middle of Western Scotland. FANTASTIC. All she had ever wanted, all rolled up into one. A shack, a scruffy old wizard, and a stick wrapped up safely in her trunk, *that was still on the train*. But she couldn't have any doubt about the magic, not after what she'd seen Remus do, not after all she'd seen in Diagon ally.
Suddenly the creaking boats started to move, jerking everyone suddenly so that some people gave little sharp gasps. Lily saw that Hagrid's boat was sort of leading the way, (she also noticed that Hagrid occupied the largest boat, alone, and the water was at such a high level on the boat's side, that it was in danger of slipping over onto Hagrid's moleskin overcoat) in front of the others, had he perhaps uttered a password or something similar to start them off? They had jerked so suddenly... She decided to inquire:
"Ally, did he say something...?" When her friend looked at her curiously, she continued "Hagrid, that big man, you know... to start the boats off from the shore?"
"Umm..." The brunette thought for a moment, "I think he said 'ognatus'," or something.
Lily leaned back in her seat. "Thanks."
She wondered where Hagrid had acquired the moleskin overcoat... and how. She hoped he hadn't killed anything to obtain it. But all these thoughts were drowned, (literally), when the boat tipped a little too far, and Lily lost her balance. It was as if all this was happening in slow motion: her hand slowly came off her cheek (her thinking position) as she felt the boat tip a little bit, and a bit more, and a bit *more*, until she was gasping in a sharp breath of air... then water. This was such a shock that all the air was knocked out of her, and she felt thoroughly winded. She couldn't move, and as the ice of the water gripped her nerves, she felt her self gradually floating away... A strong, wet grip helped her clamber back into the creaking boat. Alison was the only one who had managed to stay in the boat. Cleo had already managed to climb back in, (Lily suspected with the help of Alison).
The clothes of both those who had fallen into the freezing shallows of the black lake were plastered to their bodies, quite embarrassingly, and Lily's hair was stuck to the inside of her mouth, and straggled in patterns, of sorts, around her head.
It had all happened so fast that lily hadn't really had time to take in what had happened. It was quite unreal. On her first day at her new school she had fallen into a lake.
Suddenly she made out Hagrid's large figure dominating her vision, in his large boat, right next to them. A passing thought whispered through her brain, wondering how he had got there that quickly, but most of it concentrated on what he was saying;
"Oh my god! Are yeh two the only ones what fell in? Are yeh alright? How deh yeh feel? We'd better get yeh up to Dumbledore pretty quick! He'll decide what teh do with yeh. Ohhh, this is all my fault! I'm gonna get the sack!"
He seemed to be talking mainly to himself, on occasion to them, but he looked so overcome with grief and fear... he looked as though he might cry! It was almost alarming. So Lily decided resolutely that she would comfort him, or attempt to.
"Really, it's not you're fault. It's all our fault!" I hope Cleo doesn't mind me blaming it on us! "You wont get... the sack? Does that mean fired? You wont get fired! I'll tell them everything!..." After this comforting outburst, she added inquisitively, "Who's Dumbledore?"
Suddenly, and unexpectedly, Hagrid laughed through his sniffles, "E's the headmaster. Greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, and it's seen a good few!" But then added dolefully "But e's fergiven me so many times in the past."
"Do you often have idiotic first year students like us" She said, gesturing to herself and Cleo "falling into the lake on their first day, then?"
Hagrid let out a sort of twisted snort, which Lily supposed was supposed to be laughter, but was saved from answering by the automatically powered boats turning a corner, around some reeds which Lily reckoned were about her height, and half of a gigantic castle coming into view shockingly close. It's narrow windows were lit by a gentle golden light and she could see figures flitting smoothly across, making the candles', or what she suspected were candles (it just didn't seem fitting for this castle to be lit with electricity) light flicker.
Suddenly Lily felt a huge weight dropped coarsely onto her shoulders, she looked around, and saw Hagrid's warm smiling face looking down on her. Hagrid had given them his moleskin overcoat! She was slightly disgusted, but it seemed like such a kind guesture, that she didn't really mind all that much. Cleo shared this burden, and Lily supposed it was because of them falling in the lake. It was certainly tremendously warm, even if this was only half the heat, and Lily felt a very large burst of gratitude towards Hagrid at that moment.
Suddenly the castle came into full view, and Lily gasped in awe. And every single worry or bad thought that she had ever thought about this school immediately banished itself from her head, and indeed, she forgot her coldness, and her tiredness, and her grumping (A/n: first author note! Believe it or not there is actually a word 'grumping' in the dictionary. If there wasn't I wouldn't put it in my ficcie. I love you guys too much! Promise no more author notes!) at the sight of this overwhelming vision. She was almost crying with happiness: she wasn't going to learn in a shack after all! She felt she could jump up and sing! She was going to be taught magic, real MAGIC! At a magic school! She had a wand, and robes, and a hat, and she was ready to roll! Lily suddenly felt that this was worth two trips into a lakes' icy shallows. A bright bubble of happiness swelled up in her throat until it hurt.
But that bubble suddenly popped (A/N: Sos, said there wud be no more author's notes, but gotta tell you, I nearly wrote pooped then, hehe!) abruptly and uncomfortably, as she heard a snort of laughter from the left of her, opposite to where Hagrid's boat had drifted over to. She looked over her shoulder and eyed the perpetrator. He was a skinny sort of boy, with a mop of black hair, and round, black rimmed glasses. He had his hand over his mouth in order to hide his mirth. She was so outraged that he could possibly be laughing at her falling into the lake, (for falling into the lake was the only recent escapade that anyone would be laughing at, as far as she could fathom. She had almost drowned, for God's sake!) that she confronted him.
"Are you laughing at me?" Lily hoped she looked very pissed off.
"Well, can *you* see anyone else to laugh at?" He questioned openly. Lily was quite taken aback; she had expected him to shrink back and deny it, .
"I just fell into the lake and -" She was cut off.
"Yeah?"
"AND," she continued, angry at having been interrupted, "I could have nearly drowned," here the boy snorted again, and Lily recognised his face as the one who had rushed forward to talk to Hagrid... James potter! "-And you're laughing at me?"
"What does it look like?"
"It *looks* like some pig headed, snotty nosed, egotistical, self righteous son of a b-"
"Lilyyyyyyyyyyy..." She heard Sirius say from somewhere. She looked to see where her was sitting, and saw he was sharing a boat with James potter, as was Remus! Traitors!
She flicked her head around to face her companions, making her wet pony tail flick round in her face, and stick there. She peeled it off, disdainfully, her lips pursed. Then had a painful thought: if her glasses had fit any more loosely, they would have flicked off too, into the lake. In fact, she was surprised that they hadn't come off when she had fallen in. And entirely grateful. If they ha have done, then they would have made her look like a total twat. She didn't like to think on it too much... And her glasses cost forty pounds. She didn't like to think too much on that either. She pushed them up her nose again, just to be sure that they were still there.
It was about ten minutes until they actually got to the other shore, even though the castle had seemed so close when they had first caught sight of it, which left Lily with a lot of time to brood on the situation. By the time they reached Hogwarts, she was seething. So angry, in fact, that her knuckles were white from all the fist clenching they had suffered, this Alison noted with caution as they all clambered out of the boats (Hagrid had a job of it,) and from then on, treated Lily like a ticking bomb. Lily had hardly been noticing the scenery as they walked up to the great double doors that signalled one's entry into Hogwarts, and she had spent the whole time insulting James: here she paused, trying to think of more insults that she hadn't already used. She stopped again, to admire her interesting string of insults, and her attention was then captured by the great double doors opening, and a golden light being cast onto the wet grass. She could feel the heat already generated flowing out into the cool night air, and she shivered, suddenly wishing with all her heart that she could be in the middle of all that heat right now, wrapped safely in Hagrid's moleskin overcoat, with dry hair, and dry robes. She shivered again, and pulled the over coat more tightly around her. She was noticing the cold more and more as her thoughts about James faded, and her thoughts about warmth took their place.
A rough hand descended on her (closer inspection revealed it to be Hagrid's giant one) and pulled her to the front of the rather large throng that the first years had formed, through the doors, ah the bliss of warmth, over to a very foreboding figure, in a grey cloak. She looked sternly down on Lily and Cleo, and took them away, staying just long enough to raise an eyebrow at Hagrid, and to say,
"You *deal* with them, Hagrid, you know what to do,"
****Am ddddddddddoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnneeeeeee! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooo!
Plz review? pwetty plz?
Glumfroggie****
****First things first. SOS!!!! for not updating *with sullen glance,* to anyone who's REVIEWED.
Back to happier thoughts...Hiya! It's glumfroggie here! Wow!!!!! Four whole reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm not even being sarcastic!!!!!!!! Thanx you guys sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooo much! You have no idea how happy those made me feel, (well actually, I may b underestimating your powers of distinguishing how happy some1 is judging by the number of 'o's that they put in 'so') I was jumping for joy and everyone was getting reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally pissed off with me. Ya. You can imagine y. NEway. Back to thanking everyone hu reviewed my story PROFUSELY! I LUV YOU GUYS! Thanx! C U soon with the next chappie that will be posted some time . ahem. Also, I don't want to confusel (confusel is my latest word, innit cooooooool? BTW, it means confused, just in case you didn't know,) anyone, but my pen name is actually Glumfrog, not glumfroggie, I just sign glumfroggie, coz I'm that kinda gal! cooooooooooooooooooooooooool, (am fond of putting way too many letters in words that don't need it, as you can probably see, ummmmmmmmm hehe, see! There I go again, sombodyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy stooooooooooooooop meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...
sos bout dat... um yeah,
Bibi!****
Every Witch (almost wrote 'with' then!) has her Silver Lining
What, doesn't everyone fall into the lake on their first day?
.The door swung open to reveal .a mole? - skin over coat! What the hell would wear a moleskin? Something barbaric, Lily decided, and she shrunk away from the figure approaching. It's head was hidden in a matt of frizzy, tangled black hair and Lily could se no skin or any other sign of humanity under the moleskin - other than the hair, of course. There was something sincerely odd about it though. But, for once, Lily's curiosity did *not* get the better of her and she stayed well back.
Only when the figure turned around, did Lily realise what an idiot she had been. The figure was, of course, human, and the reason that it had looked 'sincerely odd' was because it had been facing the opposite way.
From through the doorway, parallel to where she was sitting, she could hear muffled, red-faced, mutterings and snickers. She presumed the snickers were emanating form the opposite car, and that the huge being was not snickering at itself, because it seemed to be having great difficulty moving from car to car. Apparently the doors just 'weren't bloody wide enough', quoting directly.
When the figure did, eventually, turn to face them, one of the boys that she hadn't spoken to yet, (Lily forced her self to believe that this was because she just didn't want to, not at all because she was scared! How childish!) rushed forward to greet the oversized being.
Lily promptly leaned over to Cleo, who was sitting beside her, and whispered
"I think this guy needs to cut down on the trifles, hmm?"
Lily felt a slight pang of guilt at insulting this man's size, but it was worth the expression on Cleo's face (After all, she didn't even know this man). Cleo tried to frown, but couldn't help sniggering, all the same.
Alison, who had evidently heard, whispered, "Lily, you shouldn't say things like that!"
"I know," she giggled back, "But I just can't help it!" Whilst the girls where sniggering, she caught sight of the boy who had rushed forward to greet the monstrously large individual turn and frown hard in her direction.
So engrossed was Lily in sizing up the big being, that she hadn't noticed that he had a little trail of many, many people who all looked like first years following behind him. She probably hadn't been able to see them before, she reflected, because of the huge commodity of the man.
All this happened in a matter of seconds, however, because a moment later, Lily was being herded like cattle along with the rest of the people suddenly in the last compartment out of there in a gruff way, by the giant man. A gruff way which suited his gruff voice.
"Jus' leave yer luggage on the train, yeh'll get it later, don't you worry. All yeh lot, come with me."
Lily was uncomfortably last out of the compartment. The others had shoved and pushed her out of the line (she was sure not purposefully) and it was very obvious that she was desperate to be out of there, which made it particularly embarrassing when she wasn't. She saw him give her a slight frown on their way out, which made her shirk, and shuffle away awkwardly.
Lily still didn't know where the hell she was going, and if this guy who was leading her was nice or nasty. She didn't even know his name. Naturally, she assumed that they were supposed to follow him, because the boy from their compartment had greeted him with such eagerness, and none of the others appeared to be protesting in any way.
Since Lily was last out of the compartment, everyone else had paired off into little conversation partners, or groups, and Lily had no-one to go with, so she trudged along alone. It seemed to take a while to get wherever it was they were going - hopefully the school -, and soon she began to tune in to the conversation of the boy from her compartment and the giant whom she had christened semi-human.
"I think I'm gonna ask Dumbledore" "if I can wait by the platform for the first years," "Instead of trudgin' through the WHOLE train collectin' 'em up as I go." That was the big man.
Lily could tell the boy was avoiding the subject of the semi-human's magnitude, "Yes! That's a great idea. It's better in many ways! Including the fact that some of the first years many get lost on your way to the end compartment, and it'll... be quicker! Do you normally go through the train like that then?" That was the boy. Lily noted that it was a rather rushed response. She could tell a lot from the openings of people's conversations.
"Yeah.Ahem. Ne'er seed you out side o' yer neighbourhood before, 'ave I, boy?"
"No. The only time I ever see you is at Mum's house." "Oh, no wait! I saw you once in Diagon ally!" Lily remembered this as the place that she had had to go shopping for her wand and robes for school. She was glad she finally understood what they were talking about.
"Ah yes!" There was a slight pause. But Lily could tell it wasn't an uncomfortable pause, like the one that she an Kari had shared, but a contented, relaxed one. Lily was suddenly slightly envious of the boy.
"Sooo, Hagrid," Lily had made a great discovery. "Where are we going again?" That was the boy again. Lily could tell he was winding him up. But Hagrid obviously couldn't. He almost exploded.
"James Potter" ! Lily was thoroughly confused. She would have to ask Cleo and Ally later, when she had finished eavesdropping. (It, just then suddenly occurred to Lily that she *was* eavesdropping, but she didn't have much time to dwell on that, not if she wanted to hear the rest of the sentence. She had already found out some pretty useful stuff, maybe she could find out more about this strange wizarding world that she was being introduced to and relate it back to Ally and Cleo later. "I should think you, of all people should.the. houses" Hagrid had trailed off, obviously becoming aware of the silent laughter that James was doubled up in.
To James Potter, this was a huge joke, but to Lily Evans, it was a huge reminder. For instance, the houses. She had never actually found out about them, or what they were. They were probably different to those she had used in her mudd - muGGle school; they belonged to Hogwarts, for God's sakes! Lily would have been surprised if they weren't different. Also, she suddenly remembered that Remus and Sirius were mudd - MUGGLES too. How did they know so much about the Wizarding world already? And how come they had so many friends so fast?
Lily had so much pounding through her head that she was afraid she would forget it all, so she rushed over to where Cleo and Alison were walking, suddenly recognising Alison's dark hair and started talking so fast that neither Alison nor Cleo were able to understand her.
"WOA, woa, woa, slow down, girl, what are you saying?"
"I'm ASKING you about houses." Then proceeded to mutter under her breath, "boy do I have a lot to tell you!"
"And what is *that* supposed to mean?" Asked Cleo indignantly. She had drawn herself up so that her chest stuck out and her bottom lip was almost touching her neck. She looked so ridiculous that both Alison and Lily had to laugh. Cleo looked quite proud of herself, and this made them laugh even harder. This delay caused Lily's chance to question her friends about everything that she had heard in James' and Hagrid's conversation, because, by the time everyone had stopped laughing, Hagrid had stopped, and turned to the forlorn freezing band of pupils following him obediently, and bellowed his gruff voice out into the silent night.
"Hello, Everyone! I'm Hagrid, well, Reubeus, to be pehnickehty, but yehs can call me Hagrid, the Gamekeeper fer Hogwarts! All yeh firs' years, we'll be comin' 'round to some boats soon. 'Round that corn'r. Three, mebe four to a boat. No crowdin' or you'll sink. Hehehe, jus' jokin'," He held his stomach in big, bellowing laughter, "yeh gullible lot. Ah, here we are. Hop in then."
As they rounded the corner, a long dock full of many creaking boats that Lily didn't think looked too reliable came into view. The water slapped their sides, and she could see little limpets and crustaceans stuck onto the bottom adamantly whenever the little things rocked. They were probably all that was holding the boat together. Alison, Lily and Cleo automatically headed for the boat at the end, simultaneously. Lily got in first and pulled a face as she sat down.
"Oh my, how I love having a wet bottom." Both her friends laughed, but Lily noticed how they stayed well away from where Lily had sat.
Every time the boat swayed, new dollops of water came sloshing over the little boat's side. Lily withered the poor air that just happened to be in the way of her glare as water splashed into her shoes, and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. Judging by these boats, wherever the hell they were going to take her, and the state of the over *over* large gamekeeper, this magnificent 'castle' that she had heard everyone going on about, that was Hogwarts, was probably just going to be some old shack in the middle of Western Scotland. FANTASTIC. All she had ever wanted, all rolled up into one. A shack, a scruffy old wizard, and a stick wrapped up safely in her trunk, *that was still on the train*. But she couldn't have any doubt about the magic, not after what she'd seen Remus do, not after all she'd seen in Diagon ally.
Suddenly the creaking boats started to move, jerking everyone suddenly so that some people gave little sharp gasps. Lily saw that Hagrid's boat was sort of leading the way, (she also noticed that Hagrid occupied the largest boat, alone, and the water was at such a high level on the boat's side, that it was in danger of slipping over onto Hagrid's moleskin overcoat) in front of the others, had he perhaps uttered a password or something similar to start them off? They had jerked so suddenly... She decided to inquire:
"Ally, did he say something...?" When her friend looked at her curiously, she continued "Hagrid, that big man, you know... to start the boats off from the shore?"
"Umm..." The brunette thought for a moment, "I think he said 'ognatus'," or something.
Lily leaned back in her seat. "Thanks."
She wondered where Hagrid had acquired the moleskin overcoat... and how. She hoped he hadn't killed anything to obtain it. But all these thoughts were drowned, (literally), when the boat tipped a little too far, and Lily lost her balance. It was as if all this was happening in slow motion: her hand slowly came off her cheek (her thinking position) as she felt the boat tip a little bit, and a bit more, and a bit *more*, until she was gasping in a sharp breath of air... then water. This was such a shock that all the air was knocked out of her, and she felt thoroughly winded. She couldn't move, and as the ice of the water gripped her nerves, she felt her self gradually floating away... A strong, wet grip helped her clamber back into the creaking boat. Alison was the only one who had managed to stay in the boat. Cleo had already managed to climb back in, (Lily suspected with the help of Alison).
The clothes of both those who had fallen into the freezing shallows of the black lake were plastered to their bodies, quite embarrassingly, and Lily's hair was stuck to the inside of her mouth, and straggled in patterns, of sorts, around her head.
It had all happened so fast that lily hadn't really had time to take in what had happened. It was quite unreal. On her first day at her new school she had fallen into a lake.
Suddenly she made out Hagrid's large figure dominating her vision, in his large boat, right next to them. A passing thought whispered through her brain, wondering how he had got there that quickly, but most of it concentrated on what he was saying;
"Oh my god! Are yeh two the only ones what fell in? Are yeh alright? How deh yeh feel? We'd better get yeh up to Dumbledore pretty quick! He'll decide what teh do with yeh. Ohhh, this is all my fault! I'm gonna get the sack!"
He seemed to be talking mainly to himself, on occasion to them, but he looked so overcome with grief and fear... he looked as though he might cry! It was almost alarming. So Lily decided resolutely that she would comfort him, or attempt to.
"Really, it's not you're fault. It's all our fault!" I hope Cleo doesn't mind me blaming it on us! "You wont get... the sack? Does that mean fired? You wont get fired! I'll tell them everything!..." After this comforting outburst, she added inquisitively, "Who's Dumbledore?"
Suddenly, and unexpectedly, Hagrid laughed through his sniffles, "E's the headmaster. Greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, and it's seen a good few!" But then added dolefully "But e's fergiven me so many times in the past."
"Do you often have idiotic first year students like us" She said, gesturing to herself and Cleo "falling into the lake on their first day, then?"
Hagrid let out a sort of twisted snort, which Lily supposed was supposed to be laughter, but was saved from answering by the automatically powered boats turning a corner, around some reeds which Lily reckoned were about her height, and half of a gigantic castle coming into view shockingly close. It's narrow windows were lit by a gentle golden light and she could see figures flitting smoothly across, making the candles', or what she suspected were candles (it just didn't seem fitting for this castle to be lit with electricity) light flicker.
Suddenly Lily felt a huge weight dropped coarsely onto her shoulders, she looked around, and saw Hagrid's warm smiling face looking down on her. Hagrid had given them his moleskin overcoat! She was slightly disgusted, but it seemed like such a kind guesture, that she didn't really mind all that much. Cleo shared this burden, and Lily supposed it was because of them falling in the lake. It was certainly tremendously warm, even if this was only half the heat, and Lily felt a very large burst of gratitude towards Hagrid at that moment.
Suddenly the castle came into full view, and Lily gasped in awe. And every single worry or bad thought that she had ever thought about this school immediately banished itself from her head, and indeed, she forgot her coldness, and her tiredness, and her grumping (A/n: first author note! Believe it or not there is actually a word 'grumping' in the dictionary. If there wasn't I wouldn't put it in my ficcie. I love you guys too much! Promise no more author notes!) at the sight of this overwhelming vision. She was almost crying with happiness: she wasn't going to learn in a shack after all! She felt she could jump up and sing! She was going to be taught magic, real MAGIC! At a magic school! She had a wand, and robes, and a hat, and she was ready to roll! Lily suddenly felt that this was worth two trips into a lakes' icy shallows. A bright bubble of happiness swelled up in her throat until it hurt.
But that bubble suddenly popped (A/N: Sos, said there wud be no more author's notes, but gotta tell you, I nearly wrote pooped then, hehe!) abruptly and uncomfortably, as she heard a snort of laughter from the left of her, opposite to where Hagrid's boat had drifted over to. She looked over her shoulder and eyed the perpetrator. He was a skinny sort of boy, with a mop of black hair, and round, black rimmed glasses. He had his hand over his mouth in order to hide his mirth. She was so outraged that he could possibly be laughing at her falling into the lake, (for falling into the lake was the only recent escapade that anyone would be laughing at, as far as she could fathom. She had almost drowned, for God's sake!) that she confronted him.
"Are you laughing at me?" Lily hoped she looked very pissed off.
"Well, can *you* see anyone else to laugh at?" He questioned openly. Lily was quite taken aback; she had expected him to shrink back and deny it, .
"I just fell into the lake and -" She was cut off.
"Yeah?"
"AND," she continued, angry at having been interrupted, "I could have nearly drowned," here the boy snorted again, and Lily recognised his face as the one who had rushed forward to talk to Hagrid... James potter! "-And you're laughing at me?"
"What does it look like?"
"It *looks* like some pig headed, snotty nosed, egotistical, self righteous son of a b-"
"Lilyyyyyyyyyyy..." She heard Sirius say from somewhere. She looked to see where her was sitting, and saw he was sharing a boat with James potter, as was Remus! Traitors!
She flicked her head around to face her companions, making her wet pony tail flick round in her face, and stick there. She peeled it off, disdainfully, her lips pursed. Then had a painful thought: if her glasses had fit any more loosely, they would have flicked off too, into the lake. In fact, she was surprised that they hadn't come off when she had fallen in. And entirely grateful. If they ha have done, then they would have made her look like a total twat. She didn't like to think on it too much... And her glasses cost forty pounds. She didn't like to think too much on that either. She pushed them up her nose again, just to be sure that they were still there.
It was about ten minutes until they actually got to the other shore, even though the castle had seemed so close when they had first caught sight of it, which left Lily with a lot of time to brood on the situation. By the time they reached Hogwarts, she was seething. So angry, in fact, that her knuckles were white from all the fist clenching they had suffered, this Alison noted with caution as they all clambered out of the boats (Hagrid had a job of it,) and from then on, treated Lily like a ticking bomb. Lily had hardly been noticing the scenery as they walked up to the great double doors that signalled one's entry into Hogwarts, and she had spent the whole time insulting James: here she paused, trying to think of more insults that she hadn't already used. She stopped again, to admire her interesting string of insults, and her attention was then captured by the great double doors opening, and a golden light being cast onto the wet grass. She could feel the heat already generated flowing out into the cool night air, and she shivered, suddenly wishing with all her heart that she could be in the middle of all that heat right now, wrapped safely in Hagrid's moleskin overcoat, with dry hair, and dry robes. She shivered again, and pulled the over coat more tightly around her. She was noticing the cold more and more as her thoughts about James faded, and her thoughts about warmth took their place.
A rough hand descended on her (closer inspection revealed it to be Hagrid's giant one) and pulled her to the front of the rather large throng that the first years had formed, through the doors, ah the bliss of warmth, over to a very foreboding figure, in a grey cloak. She looked sternly down on Lily and Cleo, and took them away, staying just long enough to raise an eyebrow at Hagrid, and to say,
"You *deal* with them, Hagrid, you know what to do,"
****Am ddddddddddoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnneeeeeee! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooo!
Plz review? pwetty plz?
Glumfroggie****
