Catch Me If You Can
Chapter Two ll 'That Blackhaired Guy!'
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"Ticket to Hogsmeade please."
Rose and Lily watched as an elderly wizard got his booty (his train ticket), and left the Train Ticket store.
"Hogsmeade?" Lily asked incredulously, as soon as the wizard had left the store, "What's that?"
Rose looked just as confused, "I'm not quite sure on that one, Lil."
"Ticket to Hogwarts, please."
"Oooh mum! Someone else is getting a ticket to Hogwarts!"
Lily peered over the heads of the witches and wizards that were queued up to buy tickets to magical places.
Lily and Rose were in the ticket store again; they were going to ask the wizard selling the tickets if the platform on the Hogwarts ticket had been printed right.
"Ugh, I wonder how so much people could've came here so quickly," Rose said, referring to the queue.
"Oh well, I don't mind waiting," Lily answered back absently.
"Two tickets to Hogsmeade, please."
"Hogwarts."
"A Hogwarts ticket, please."
"Ministry, please."
"Five tickets to Hogwarts, please."
"Two tickets to Hogwarts, and one ticket to Hogsmeade."
"Wow, there's alot of tickets to Hogwarts," Rose commented.
"Hogwarts, please."
"Three tickets to Hogwarts and one to the Ministry."
"Hogsmeade."
Finally, it was Rose's and Lily's turn.
"Oh, it's you two again," the wizard drawled.
"Ye-es," Rose said uncertainly, "You see, I think there may be a printing mistake on my daughter's train ticket..."
"Printing, you say?" the wizard asked, sounding very bored, "Never heard of such a thing."
"Uhh..." Rose exchanged worried glances with Lily.
Finally, she spoke up again.
"Well... are you sure that the platform is supposed to be -- supposed to be... Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?"
"Is this a Hogwarts Express ticket?" the wizard asked, sighing. It seemed as if he had been asked this a thousand times. Which he probably had been.
"Yes," Rose answered.
The wizard grimaced, "I assure you Miss, there has been no mistake. It's the right platform."
"What? Oh I mean, okay... Right. Thank you," Rose said briefly, then hurried out of the store with Lily.
"What the devil?!" Rose exclaimed, exasperated, as soon as they were out of the ticket booth, "Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?! I've been to King's Cross Station about a hundred times and I can assure you, there's no Platform Nine and Three-Quarters!"
"Calm down, mum," Lily said peaceably, "I'm sure it's no mistake. I mean, they wouldn't want Muggles to--"
"Muggles?" Rose said in disbelief. All this witchcraft stuff was starting to make her feel uneasy, "Lily -- where did you learn such a word?"
"It's a magical word, mum. I met a girl in Madam Malkin's who taught me it. It means non-magic people," Lily explained hastily, "Anyway, they wouldn't want Muggles to accidentally find themselves in a magical world, right? After all, I have this feeling that wizards and witches and this Hogwarts thing is all a great big secret. Er... mum, can you pinch me?"
"Okay, but you have to pinch me afterwards," Rose agreed. She pinched Lily, and the girl gave a cry.
"Nope, I'm wide awake," Lily pinched her mother, "What about you?"
"Unfortunately," Rose sighed, "Well, what to do now?"
"Eat ice cream," Lily piped up.
Rose laughed, "What about this platform business?"
"I'm sure it'll sort itself out," Lily said comfortably, "But mum, I'm really hot and tired. Can't we have some ice cream?"
"Well, can you see any ice cream parlours lying around here?"
"Yeah, there's one there," Lily pointed behind Rose.
"Huh? Well, that was unexpected," Rose said, looking taken-aback, "All right, we'll go in..."
Lily grinned as she skipped over to Florean Fortescue's.
A few minutes later, Rose was thoroughly enjoying a vanilla sundae with chocolate sauce. The day had certainly been overwhelming and exhausting, and this sundae just seemed to sort things all out. Lily was slurping at her chocolate soda; she was almost half-way down her giant-sized glass when she felt someone tap her shoulder.
"Hi Lily, fancy seeing you here!"
Lily turned around and came face to face with Paige, the girl that had been in Madam Malkin's.
"Oooh, hello. Yup, ice cream is certainly a favourite of mine. It's something that wizards and Muggles have in common," Lily joked.
Paige gave a musical laugh, before introducing Lily to the fair-haired, blue-eyed girl standing beside her.
"This is Anna Charley," Paige said cheerfully, "Met her in Ollivanders, and our mothers hit it right off."
"Hello," Anna said softly with a shy smile.
"Hi," Lily said, trying her best to sound friendly and welcoming. She knew how to handle shy people pretty well.
Rose had witnessed this dialogue and decided that she should take part in her daughter's social life.
"Well Lily, are you going to introduce me to your friends or what?" she said slyly. Lily hit her playfully and smiled.
"This is my mum. Everyone calls her Rose; she says all the 'Mrs Evans' business makes her feel old. But she is--"
"Lily!" Rose exclaimed, smiling and looking shocked at the same time.
Lily grinned, "I'm kidding. Anyway mum, this is Paige, and that's Anna."
They all said their hello's and how do you do's.
Two women then came over, and after some introducing, Lily, Paige and Anna were sitting at one table, happily chatting and eating ice-cream. Rose, Linda (Paige's mother) and Sara (Anna's mother) were sitting at another table, doing the exact same thing as the girls.
By now, Anna had really loosened up to Paige and Lily. She began talking freely and joking.
"We just met at Ollivanders," Paige said, swirling her spoon in her sundae, "He's creepy, but we got our wands alright..."
"He is a bit odd, but I reckon he's okay," Lily judged.
Anna nodded, slurping her strawberry ice cream.
Paige took another bite of her super-sized sundae, "Have you two got all your Hogwarts stuff?"
Lily nodded, lifting her glass to drink the rest of her chocolate soda.
"I still need robes and a visit to Flourish and Blotts for my spellbooks," Anna answered, flashing a smile.
"Oh," Paige licked her spoon, "I just need my Hogwarts train ticket."
Lily was about to ask Paige about the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters business when she suddenly felt something cold and icky land on her back.
She leapt up, and whirled around to see -- someone she would have rather not.
"Oooh, I'm sorry," James implored, sounding upset, but of course, knowing him, he was faking it, "I didn't mean to. It was Sirius' fault!"
"What?!" Sirius exclaimed in hot tones, "It was your fault! You stumbled over and your ice cream fell off your cone and most conveniently landed on--"
He waved his hand at Lily, not knowing what her name was.
Lily groaned, "Have you realised this is the second time today you've accidentally done something to me?! What are you, some walking disaster?"
"Have you guys actually met before?" Paige asked quizzically, looking at Sirius with mild interest.
"Oh, we sure have mademoiselle," Sirius said, his attention turning instantly to Paige, "But we haven't. What is your most precious name?"
The third boy, who had sandy blonde hair, laid his grey eyes on Lily, then on James, then on Anna, then onto Paige and Sirius. He looked confused.
Lily groaned again.
"Come on Lily," Anna glanced suspiciously at Sirius and Paige, who had begun flirting with each other like there was no tomorrow, "We'll go to the bathroom and clean the ice cream off."
"Okay..." Lily said slowly. She hastily explained the situation to her mother, before she and Anna scampered off.
"Who are they?" Anna wanted to know, as she tore some paper towels and began cleaning the back of Lily's shirt.
"Well, the guy that Paige is flirting with s'called Sirius. He's strange. As for the guy with the blonde hair, I haven't met him before."
"And what about the blackhaired one?"
"That blackhaired guy!" Lily said in disgust, "His name's James and he's a jerk." She explained what had happened at Madam Malkin's to Anna.
Anna laughed, "Oh well. I'm sure he only meant it to be a bit of a joke."
"I suppose... Is the ice cream off now?"
"Uh huh," Anna replied, "But the back of your shirt is all wet."
"Damn. Well, I guess I'll just have to live with it," Lily sighed.
So after a few minutes of more talking and attempts to dry Lily's shirt; the two were back at the table, finishing off their ice-cream. They were also joined by the three boys.
It's odd how many things you can learn about someone by just talking to them. In about thirty seconds, the girls had established that the boys' names were James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
Remus began explaining about the wizard world to the muggle-born Anna, Sirius and Paige were still undoubtedly flirting with each other, and James and Lily were left to entertain themselves.
"You know, you would look really cute with ice cream in your hair," James said innocently, then he grabbed his bowl, "Want me to do the honours?"
"How would you know if I looked really cute with ice cream in my hair?" Lily asked sweetly.
James just grinned and shrugged, "I pictured it," he then lifted his bowl of ice-cream again, "So, want me to do it?"
"No, thank you," Lily replied, just as sweetly as before.
Fifteen minutes flew by as Sirius and Paige flirted some more, Remus and Anna both left to go home with their parents, and even Lily and James got a conversation started about Quidditch, though they argued through it the whole way.
"Okay, okay," Lily said, frowning, "If there are three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper and one Seeker, wouldn't that be seven players?"
"Probably," James answered, with a grin that always irritated Lily.
As Lily felt very tempted to strangle 'that blackhaired guy', a woman and a man came into the parlour, looking tired and irritated.
They looked around, then seemed to spot the group, and walked over.
After a few introductories, Cheryl and Alex (James' parents) decided to leave. They had brung along Sirius as well, as his parents were busy.
"Come on you two," Cheryl said, shifting a few packages from one arm to the other, "We had better get a move on if you both want to have a blast at Kalail's."
"Alright mum," James said, eager to buy a fresh stock of prank items for his first Hogwarts year, "Just one more thing to do."
Everyone watched him as he picked up his now empty bowl of ice cream. He carried it in his hands for a second, before flipping it onto Lily's head.
"AHH!"
Many customers that hadn't already been staring at the group already, now turned to look at the source of the noise. Lily, disgusted, peeled off the bowl and began chasing James around the ice cream parlour.
"Damn -- you -- Potter!" she yelled, running through two tables.
"Mum -- dad -- help me!" James managed to yell through his laughter. He grabbed onto his mother and hid behind her.
"James," Cheryl tried to say to her struggling son, "Why -- on earth -- James! Stop wriggling."
"Can't," James ducked as Lily swiped at him.
"Lily!" Rose called loudly, grabbing onto the back of her daughter's jumper and dragging her away from James.
"Now," Cheryl managed to say, "James, why on earth did you just do that to Lily? Apologise to her, now."
"It's quite alright," Rose tried to reassure.
"James," Cheryl persisted. James gave one helpless look at his father, who smiled and shrugged.
Sirius and Paige had doubled over with laughter.
"I'm sorry."
Lily sniffed and looked at him with distaste.
"Lily," Rose warned.
The redhead sighed, "Fine, fine. Apology accepted."
James broke into a cocky smile.
"I'm very sorry dear," Cheryl said kindly to Lily, "James gets nervous around pretty girls."
"I -- what?!" James blustered, as Sirius began cracking up again.
Lily gave James a teasing smile, a smile that she knew all boys went dizzy after. It was that little half-smile that created the cutest little dimple in her left cheek.
At that point, the Potters and Sirius really had to go, so everyone said goodbye.
Paige and Lily and their mothers stayed behind a little longer, before they too left Florean Fortescue's.
As they walked back to the Leaky Cauldron, Rose and Lily had a mother-daughter chat, which they usually had.
"What's that smell?" Rose asked curiously.
Lily sighed, "My hair. Potter had caramel sauce on his ice cream."
Rose chuckled heartily.
"James Potter? Well dear, I can see you aren't entirely fond of him. I don't see why, he's quite charming."
"Well," Lily said impatiently, eager to make her mum see that James Potter was certainly not charming, "He knocked me over at Madam Malkin's, and wouldn't get off of me until I used force. Then he got ice cream on my shirt--"
"Hair," corrected Rose.
"No," Lily waved her hand impatiently, "He got it on my shirt first. And as demonstrated half an hour ago, he got it on my hair as well!"
Rose chuckled again as she put an arm around Lily, "Lily, I'd say this boy has a bit of a crush on you. Boys always tease girls that they like. It's their way of catching their attention."
"Potter? Have a crush on me?!" Lily looked entirely scared, "Mum, I have a feeling you are way off track."
Rose justsmiled and shrugged, "Oh well. We had really better get back home, or else your father and sister will think we were gobbled up by tigers in India."
Lily giggled at the old joke her mother and her used to share, "Yup, home sweet home."
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---->A/N: Please review. ((smiles sweetly)) -- MSQ.