Hypocrites Always Fall in Love
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this (except most of the plot, and the characters you don't recognize). It all belongs to the amazing J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 5 - Siriusly Mad
The days to September first seemed to crawl by. Lily had marked off the days on her calendar, but they never seemed to come quickly enough. And the brutal name-calling from Petunia didn't help much, either. She had taken to referring to Lily only when necessary. She addressed her by saying, "What do you want, freak?"
Lily got used to it, of course. Although her parents said it was just another one of Petunia's teenage phases, Lily feared that they were wrong. That Petunia would be this was forever. She hated fight with her sister as much as she hated broccoli, and all Lily wanted was for her and her sister to be at peace, for once. But that seemed completely out of reach.
Eventually, the 1st of September did roll around, much to Lily's delight. She could not wait to find out more about Hogwarts School, witches, wizards, and the classes she would be taking. You could imagine how daunting it must have been for the young 11-year old.
Lily and her family, besides Petunia; how had simply refused to come and see the "freak" away, reached the space between Platforms 9 and 10 quickly enough.
Her mother worked up the courage to speak first.
"Lily, I wish we could stay and see you off--"
"It's okay, Mum," Lily replied glumly, "Really. I'll be quite fine on my own."
"We know Lily, but," her father started to say, but cut himself off abruptly.
It was her mother's turn to speak. Lily felt like saying, 'Speak now, or forever hold your peace!' But her parents' faces conveyed an enormous amount of worry and sadness, which told her not to interrupt.
"Do you know where your platform is?"
"Yes, Mum, and if I can't find it I can always ask someone," Lily replied, feeling that she was actually going to miss her parents. Somewhat.
"Don't go talking to strangers though, just to the security guards, understand?" she mother said, warning her quietly.
"Yes, Mum."
"Now, honey, we better get going," Mr. Evans stated to Mrs. Evans quietly.
"Yes, dear. In a minute," she said turning to look at Mr. Evans and then shifting back to her daughter. "Have a good term, Lulabell. And we'll miss you."
Lily rushed into her mother's open arms for a loving hug. Both women tried to hold back their tears by blinking rapidly.
"And we want you to come home for Christmas and tell us all about the wizarding world!" Mr. Evans added, smiling.
"Oh, honestly, Michael. Is that all you ever think about?" Lily's mother asked, breaking away from her daughter's warm embrace, as she moved on to her father.
"Not all the time. Just morning, noon, and night," he joked, trying to make the mood lighter as he closed his arms around his daughter, and kissing her on the cheek.
Mrs. Evans tutted loudly.
"Don't go getting into any trouble, and be careful, Lily."
"Get into all the trouble you possibly can, and be careful not to get caught," Mr. Evans whispered in Lily's ear as she parted.
Lily giggled. Her dad could be funny at times, she had to admit. And as they bid their last good-byes, Lily knew, as they walked away, she would miss them terribly. A horrible pang hit her heart. She wasn't sure if it was nerves, or the fact that she missed them already. She just tried to deal with it anyway.
The station was packed with people. There was no one who was dress like a wizard or wizard that Lily could pin-point to ask for directions. Lily looked at the ticket in her hand. Platform 9 and 3/4. What? There was no such thing, and if there was Lily certainly--
"Sirius, stay close! This station is full of filthy muggles, and I don't want you getting lost!" A middle-aged woman, looking very unpleasant, with dark brown hair exclaimed. She was clutching tightly to a boy Lily knew to be Sirius from the looks of it. His black hair was messy from his playing with it, and he had a whining look on his face.
"But, Mom! I've got to find James!"
"You'll see him soon enough," was the blunt answer, as she began to rub his cheeks, trying to get the dirt off.
"MOOOOMM!" Sirius whimpered, "This is really embarrassing!" He face was trying a deep shade of crimson and at this Lily laughed out loud. I bet he or his mother knows where the platform is, she thought.
Lily walked over to the woman, presumably his mother, from Sirius helpful hints, and Sirius with every intention to ask how to get to the platform. Unfortunately, the conversation didn't work out that way for Lily.
"Hi, Lily," Sirius said to her as she walked up behind his mother. She was still rubbing his left cheek.
"Hello Sirius. How was your summer?" Lily asked politely.
"Really fun! James and I set off a dungbomb on my brother, Regulus's head," Sirius replied, looking into the station dreamily.
"Dungbombs would be...?"
Mrs. Black whirled around immediately. She seemed completely alarmed at the sight of this young little red-head behind her. Lily couldn't see what was so wrong with herself. She certainly didn't smell, though Sirius kind of did.
"Sirius? Who's your little friend?" she said, turning to him, and ignoring Lily completely.
"Who? Lily?" he quipped stupidly, "I met her at Diagon Alley. She's Lily Evans."
"Lily," his mother pronounced, as if it was some kind of disgusting vile.
"She's really nice..." Sirius said hopefully.
Lily was so confused. Why was Sirius talking as though he was begging his mother to let him talk to her?
"Sirius," she started firmly, staring her son down, "Do you remember our conversation about certain people?"
"What, muggleborns?"
"Shhh...yes, Sirius. What did I tell you?"
"Not to be friendly with them."
"Yes," she looked at him threateningly.
"Sirius and I aren't really good friends, ma'am," Lily said, trying to save Sirius from a verbal attack, "I just wanted to know how to get on to the platform."
Mrs. Black had a terrible glint in her dark eyes.
"I don't care if you want to know how to get on to the platform, missy. You can go ask someone else, or better yet, miss the train. And don't you dare talk to my son again."
Then, she stomped off, taking Sirius with her, who looked very distraught.
Now she could honestly say she had never felt worse. Lily felt like someone had ripped her heart out, and ran it over with an old Thunderbird. Truth be told, it wasn't a nice feeling at all, as far as Lily was concerned.
How could that woman be so cold and heartless? Surely Lily hadn't said or done anything to provoke her. Was she just against all muggle-borns?
Lily crumpled next to a brick wall on her right, and tears finally came on. She fought them back like wildfire, but it was no use, she missed her parents too much, and the loss of someone who was willing to be her only friend was too painful.
A voice emerged over the sound of Lily's crying.
"Hey...are you okay?"
A young girl, about the same age as Lily stood behind her, looking reasonably concerned with Lily's current state. She pushed her strawberry blond hair out of her face as put a hand on Lily's shoulder.
Lily quickly dried her tears with her sleeve as she turned to the girl.
"Yeah... and if I'm not, I will be," Lily said, giving her a small smile of thanks.
The girl laughed, and helped her up, a bit of compassion still lingering in her bright blue eyes. "Good. Mrs. Black can be a bit awful sometimes."
Apparently the girl had seen the whole scene with Mrs. Black from across the station. Like most people who had watched the sight, she felt utterly sympathetic for the young girl of whom was just minding her own business for the most part, and got attacked for it, just because she was a muggle-born.
"You know her?" Lily asked, incredulously, brushing the dirt from the station floor off her clothes, "How?"
"Well, I don't know her. I've just heard of her. From James Potter. He's my mom's friend's son or…nephew...something like that." she replied.
Lily didn't bother asking who James Potter was. He was obviously a boy from her father's beloved Potter line.
"Oh! And I should probably tell you my name, right?" she added as an afterthought, "It's Lexandra Jansey. Or just Lexy. Whichever you like better."
"Lexy," Lily repeated, "I like it. I'm Lily Evans."
"Well, Lily, hi."
"Hello."
The two girls giggled at their cheesy greetings.
"So where are your parents?" Lily asked, Lexy wanting to ask Lily the same.
"Oh, they had to go to work at the Ministry, so they dropped me off. They're aurors." Lexy replied proudly.
"This is going to sound stupid, but what are aurors?"
The girls quickly got their things together and onto their trolleys, as the train was to leave soon. The whole time, Lexy explained aurors to Lily. The conversation was nowhere near dull for Lily as she was happy to learn more about the magical world. She was also happy for Lexy's company, seeing as she had someone to talk to. It was refreshing to talk to someone so kind, and intelligent with all things magic.
"So aurors fight evil witches and wizards?" Lily asked recapping what she had just been told, as they reached the spot between Platforms' 9 and 10, and Lexy had stopped.
"Yeah. They fight them, win, and they put them in Azkaban, a wizarding prison," she answered simply.
"So, now how do we get to the train?" Lily asked, feeling like she was asking too many questions.
"You run through the wall," a boy's voice chimed in behind her.
"Sirius?" Lily said, disbelieving, and turning around immediately. It was indeed Sirius, Lily's eyes didn't deceive her. She was happy to see him, of course, but she couldn't help but worry that his mother was watching them associate together. She was convinced that Mrs. Black would come over in a minute, and perform some kind of spell on her that would turn her into a frog.
Sirius caught Lily looking over his shoulder cautiously, and said calmly, "Don't worry. My mom left a few minutes ago, she went to her friend's baby shower, I think. I don't know. But she left."
"Okay..." Lily smiled slowly, "In that case, what do you mean, 'run through the wall?' Are you trying to kill me off?"
Sirius laughed, with Lexy, and shook his head, "No. Watch. I'll show you!"
He eagerly steered his trolley over to a barrier, and stopped. Then he took all of the energy that possessed him and pushed the trolley foward. He broke into a run, and with each leap he came closer and closer to the bricks until...
"Sirius, wrong one!" Lexy screamed, and clamped her hand over her mouth in horror. Lily covered her eyes. She couldn't bear to see him--
Crash! He fell to the ground with a sickening thud. His trolley flung to his right side just nearly missing him. He lay there for a moment, until the girls completely grasped exactly what had happen, and ran over to him, pushing their own trolleys through the mass chaos of people. Sirius sat up and groaned as them kneeled beside him. Though behind them, in the background, Sirius could hear the cool, crisp laughter of a boy he'd known since they'd been in diapers.