Disclaimer- To all who really don't know yet, I DON'T OWN ANYTHING that already belongs to another person, for example JK Rowling. Anything here that you don't recognize is mine, all mine!
To start off, thanks for the reviews and for the nice friendly people who've actually bothered to read this! I was sooo happy earlier because I finally reached 10 reviews!!! For most, that is nothing, but for me it is an ACCOMPLISHMENT!
*A special thanks to Ebony River for the loooong review! Tee hee. Yeah, I did write that last chapter pretty fast. I probably need to spend more time on the chappies and put in more descriptions! Sorry if the plot is not evident at the moment. I just sit and type and if it sounds good I keep it! Hope I don't bore you too much! It may get more interesting this chapter…*
Now on with the good stuff! (I hope..)
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Lily was twirling around in a field of flowers, arms outstretched. The wind whistled as it slipped through her fingers, cooling her sweaty palms. Her eyes were closed, but still she saw. She saw with her feet, her dancing feet, and she felt with her beating heart. Her wriggling toes laughed as the grass blades tickled them one by one. Her scarlet hair flew freely behind her as she fell backwards onto the cushioning earth; a contented smile lit her face. Lily inhaled the scent of spring, the scent of home, the scent of her past life. The life when Petunia liked her, the life before Petunia went to school, the life before she was hated, the life when she was loved. She opened her eyes towards the sky, expecting to find it littered with white puffy clouds, but instead found herself staring into darkness. She no longer felt the soft earth, but tiny pins pressing into her back, threatening to purse her pale skin and leave a crimson trail running down her spine. She still smelled her home, but this home was dark, had no light, had Petunia. Petunia had changed. Had hated Lily to her fullest. Had tormented her and made her life miserable. Had taken her own pain and selfishly put it on Lily, her innocent younger sister. Petunia had turned Lily's sweet dreams into nightmares. She had turned Lily's clouds into toxic gas, her sunshine into acid rain…her heaven into hell. Petunia…Petunia…Petunia…
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"Petunia…Petunia…Petunia," Lily cried in her sleep. She was shaking. She was afraid, "Stop it Petunia! It's not true! Stop! STOP! STOP!"
"Lily! Wake up!" Melanie demanded. She shook Lily's trembling form; more urgent as Lily continued to whimper and tears fell down her cheeks. "Lily! LILY!" Melanie continued to yell. She took a huge breath and shouted into Lily's ear, "LILY!"
Lily's eyes snapped open. She looked around in a disorientated state and then she began quivering once again as the tears streamed down her pale cheeks. Melanie wrapped her arms around Lily as she began to sob uncontrollably.
"Shhh…" Melanie soothed. "It's gonna be alright. Don't worry."
But Lily wasn't worrying. She was recalling, recalling all of the events in her past; recalling how she wasn't loved. It had to be true. Her sister told her every day how much her parents didn't love her, how they thought she was an ugly waste of time, how they always faked liking her so she wouldn't cry like a baby and annoy them even more. Lily always told herself it wasn't true, that her parents loved her, and deep down she knew she was right. She only couldn't admit it, because of "Petunia…" Lily thought out loud.
"All right! WHO THE HECK IS PETUNIA AND WHY ARE YOU UP AT FRIGGIN THREE IN THE MORNING?" Arabella yelled, irritated at being awoken from her dreams of Sirius. She marched over to Lily's four-poster and threw open the red velvet curtains.
Melanie was about to explain that Lily had been having a nightmare when Robyn sat up and screamed, "DON'T TAKE ME AWAY MR. FLUBBERS! I'M INNOCENT, I SWEAR!!!" She then collapsed once more into the faraway world of Mr. Flubbers.
At that point, Lily couldn't help but laugh. Melanie joined Lily, but Arabella was still in a grumpy mood and repeated herself, "Why are you up at friggin three in the morning?"
"Lily was having a nightmare of some sort," Melanie started quietly as not to disturb Robyn, "about…Petunia. Lily, who is Petunia?" Melanie asked cautiously. "I mean, you don't have to tell us, but it can help sometimes," she added sincerely.
"Oh…well," Lily was at a loss for words. If she told them about Petunia they would surely agree with her sister and then where would she be? Back to being a freak…'WAIT!' Lily mentally stopped herself, 'Lily, you're not gonna let her do this to you. You're in a NEW place with NEW beginnings. You have to start somewhere. Her mind was set. "Well…Petunia's my sister…" she said shakily.
"Oh…so what happened to her? Is she alright?" Arabella asked, thinking for the worst.
"YES! She's just fine."
"And, what's wrong with that?" Arabella inquired, confused.
"Nothing, it's just…" Lily started.
"Just what?" interrupted Arabella.
"WOULD YOU LET ME FINISH?" Lily asked, aggravated.
"Sure…" Arabella replied sheepishly.
"Well. She told me the truth about everything, y'know? How I'm ugly and stupid and am a low life," Lily said each syllable with self-disgust, "and…and…and that my parents…they…they…," Lily took a deep breath, "they don't really…love me."
Two sets of arms immediately wove themselves around Lily in a warming embrace while pitying cries of, "Oh, Lily!" escaped their owner's lips.
"You're sister is a complete, excuse my language, but she's a complete BITCH!" Arabella declared.
"What? You mean, you don't agree with her?"
"OF COURSE NOT!" Melanie and Arabella cried in unison and in shock of Lily's low self-esteem. But then again, she did have that evil sister of hers.
Out of nowhere, a voice stated, "Now, I would really love for you to continue this conversation, but, well, a girl's gotta get some sleep. And, since tomorrow we start classes and everything, I think the best thing for us to do right now is to…well…SLEEP!"
"ROBYN!" Melanie scolded.
"No, she's right. Unless we wanna be struggling to stay awake during our first essential lessons, I suggest that we go to bed now." Lily agreed. "Plus, I think Robyn here wants to be reacquainted with Mr. Flubbers" Lily added with a sly grin on her face.
Robyn blushed as the other three girls suppressed giggles, "How did you…?"
"Alright, Lils. If you're sure you're okay…" Melanie said, not wanting to start on the topic or to leave Lily on her own.
"I'm sure. I'll be fiiiiine! G'night gals!" Lily called with false cheerfulness. She closed her curtains and pulled up her sheets.
"G'night!" Arabella and Melanie called to Lily and then to one another as they mimicked Lily's actions and climbed into bed.
Robyn, still wondering how the three knew about Mr. Flubbers, asked, "But how did you—,"
"G'NIGHT ROBYN!" Three voices called in unison.
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As the girls drifted once again into their dreams, the other side of Gryffindor Tower was doing the complete opposite.
"Sirius, you up?" James asked.
"Wha?" was Sirius's groggy-voiced response.
"Sirius! All of us are almost ready. Hurry up!" Remus called.
"But, me and Abrableba were having a nice conversation!" Sirius whined, still half asleep. He didn't look like he'd be getting up anytime soon.
"Watch this." James mouthed to Peter and Remus. James tiptoed over to Sirius's bed. He carefully pulled back the curtains and knelt by Sirius's ear, whispering two words, "String cheese."
Sirius shot up out of bed and looked around the room, "WHERE?"
"Works every time," James muttered to Peter and Remus. "Now Sirius, hurry up and get your supplies."
"But where's the cheese?" Sirius asked, still searching for his favorite Muggle delicacy (A/N-definitely a delicacy…right…).
"Peter ate it. NOW," James quickly changed the topic, "go get your stuff. We're almost ready to go."
Peter, who hadn't been paying attention, was thoroughly confused as Sirius glared at him. "Why'd you eat it, huh?" Sirius asked, furious. (A/N-THAT RHYMED!!!)
"What're you talking about?" Peter looked at Sirius as if he was crazy.
James quickly cut in so as not to reveal his trick for waking Sirius, "Sirius! Get your stuff! If we wanna do this we have to leave NOW!"
"What? Oh. Okay. I'm coming." Sirius quickly retrieved a sack from under his bed."
"You ready to do this guys? This will go into history. This will be great. This will be the initiation of us. The Marauders. This is it!!!"
"SHUT UP JAMES!" Peter, Remus, and Sirius cried.
"Oh, sorry," James wore a guilty grin, "Let's get 'em boys!"
With that, the four boys crept out of their room into the common room, doing who knows what to who knows who…
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The next morning the whole of Gryffindor House, except four devious first years, was in a furious state. Mindy Stout and her crowd of prefects were storming around, flashing their prefect badges, and trying to get everything into order. Sometime in the night, Gryffindor tower had been pranked! Around eight that morning, all students woke up to the sound, smell, and smoke of dung bombs.
Rumors were spreading around the tower quick as a flash. Stories were heard of Slytherin prefects getting the password from their head of house and sabotaging the Gryffindor's home as revenge for winning the house cup last year. Others were of Slytherin having allies in Gryffindor who were paid to prank their fellow housemates. However, nobody guessed that four measly first years were behind the prank. That is, nobody except Lily Evans.
She, in fact, found the four boys to be the only logical culprits. She had already had a preliminary experience of their pranks with her hair and therefore knew the boys had been in the pranking business before. Also, the boys all knew each other before they came to Hogwarts, giving them time to plan out the prank and get their supplies. Plus the fact that they were the only people in the room who were laughing and didn't smell like manure.
Lily marched across the room, fuming, and scolded the boys with fire on her tongue, "Do you find this amusing?? Did you even think about what would happen when you let those horrid things explode in everyone's rooms? Did you REALIZE that people would actually be affected by this stunt? Did you REALIZE that we have our first CLASSES today and that we will be LATE??!" At this point, the entire common room, who had been staring at Lily's sizzling rage, lit up at the thought of being late to classes on the first day back. After Lily had stormed off to her room to take yet another shower, students started walking up to the boys patting them on the back and praising them with, "Well Done"'s and "Nice One"'s. The Marauders had been smiling the whole time until a middle-aged witch with onyx hair pulled in a tight bun walked in, fists clenched at her sides, and rage visible in her narrowed green eyes. The smiles were immediately wiped off their faces as the woman screamed, "Who is responsible for this mess?" All fingers pointed to the boys and they looked at their shoes…afraid of what would come next.
The enraged woman strode over to where the boys were standing and sternly demanded, "Follow me." She then, with a flick of her wand and a few muttered words, cleared all the damage the boys did to the common room and began to march towards the portrait hole.
The four boys scampered after her not wanting to upset the already infuriated woman. They followed her out of the portrait hole, through many hallways, and eventually ended up outside a door. The woman muttered another set of inaudible words and flicked her wand again, unlocking the door to her office.
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'Who the hell does this lady think she is?' James thought as he walked into her office.
As if on cue, the woman sat down at her desk and turned to the boys, "My name is Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House." Her brows furrowed, showing premature wrinkles as she scrunched up her face with fury, "And I presume you be Misters Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew, if I'm not mistaken."
The four preteens hesitantly nodded their heads, wondering that if they shook their heard in denial, she would let them leave without punishment.
"Such a pity, to see some of our freshest students already getting into mischief. Though you four are new to Hogwarts, the policy remains the same. You get into mischief, you lose house points. BUT, considering the fact that it is the first day and classes have not yet commenced, I will be quite generous towards you. Sixteen points from Gryffindor, four from each one of you. However, your punishment is not over yet. Along with cleaning out the dorm rooms I could not clean myself, you will each be given a detention to be served tonight with Mr. Filch. I will meet you in the Gryffindor commons at 8:30 sharp where I will take you to the trophy room, being that you don't know where it is. You should be glad that I am feeling quite nice today. And yes Mr. Black. You will be missing dinner." She then changed her strict voice into an airy, light-hearted tone, "That is all. Close the door on your way out."
All four boys scampered out of the room as if there were no tomorrow.
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When they finally arrived at breakfast, the Marauders were greeted at the door by Professor Dumbledore's cheerful grin. "Good morning boys. I suspect you had a good night's rest?" Dumbledore asked with a knowing wink.
"Why, y-yes Professor." Peter managed to reply.
"Good. I suppose you four will be needing these." Dumbledore handed each of them their class schedules and watched them file into the Great Hall, a smile playing at his creased face.
As their fellow Gryffindors began to notice them, Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter were given a whopping round of applause. Sirius bowed his head until he was practically somersaulting; James raised his hands over his head like he'd just won the World Cup; Peter did a mixture of the two, while Remus just politely smiled and bowed his head.
An older boy from the other end of the table yelled to James, "So what'd McGonagall give ya?"
"Oh. Only a detention with Filch, scrubbing the dorms spotless, and no dinner." James replied, as if it was nothing.
"MAN! You got off easy!" the boy shouted.
The four just rolled their eyes, clearly mistaking the boy's genuine statement for a joke. This made them appear even cockier which gave them still more popularity points. Everyone was thinking how cool these first year boys were turning out to be—except for one fiery little redhead (A/N- I know this phrase gets used and overused…but it just fit!). She just sat with a scowl on her face as the boys were praised for breaking the rules.
Arabella watched her friend's face turn to a dark shade of cherry red and her eyes start to twitch as her anger level amplified.
"POTTER!" Lily abruptly stood up and stomped over to the cheering James and knocked him upside the head. "BLACK!" She turned to Sirius and pushed him over so that he did somersault. "PETTIGREW!" She twisted her body to face Peter and knocked him backwards onto his bum (A/N-I just LOVE that word). "LUPIN!" She faced Remus, whom she merely wagged her finger at, considering he wasn't doing anything too boisterous. "HOW DARE YOU ACCEPT THIS…THIS…THIS PRAISE FOR COMMITING SUCH AN ACT!!! WE COULD HAVE BEEN LATE TO CLASSES, NOT TO MENTION THE FEELING OF BEING WOKEN BY SUCH A FOWL ODOR!!!" Lily screamed with disgust towards their acts while she grimaced at the thought of what the boys had done. She then proceeded to smack each of them on the head and stormed out of the Great Hall, most probably to her first class, Transfiguration. And this event right here was how Lily Evans began to be known by all of Hogwarts as the one not to cross: AKA-Fiery Little Readhead (A/N-whoa! And there it goes again!)
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Ok, ok…that's all for now! Did you like it?? Tell by reviewing…please? ;) Oh and read my friend's story! It's pretty good so far…(and review it too!!!) Hehe, no pressure. And if you want me to mention ur story on here too, just ask. You know how (post it on ur review that you WILL put up!!! lol) Oh, and you can find my friend under: GravityDrop ok? Ok. Thanks…next chapter will be up sorta soon because I'll be cooped up in my house for a WHOLE WEEK…doing nothing but reading and writing fics b/c it's too dangerous to leave the house because I'm American and there will be anti-american protesters where I live…but I'm sure none of you really care about that so I'll shut up now…ok…that's all. Thanks to all who've reviewed!!!
~*~DanniBannani~*~
Oh, and by the way. In case you didn't know (I have a few friends who don't) string cheese is this cheese that comes in a cylindrical form (I'd say a half cm radius…not doing inches 'cause if you know inches, you prob. know string cheese). You grab the cheese at the top and split it (sorta like with ribbon) and it comes off like a string (hints the name…string cheese). And no, it is not a delicacy. It is just an easy snack for a mom who doesn't want a mess…