Note: The first part of this chapter is how James got his wand from Ollivanders. Lol, I thought it might be fun to write it! Enjoy!
Catch Me If You Can
Chapter Eleven ll Life Is A Party
======
The door to Eyelops Owl Emporium flung open as two excited eleven-year-old boys ran out. James' parents had decided to let their son and his friend get their wands and pets by themselves, while they went to buy books and cauldrons. Then James and Sirius could have a blast Quality Quidditch Supplies, until meeting up with his parents at around two o'clock in the afternoon.
"I thought you were going to get an owl," Sirius said, as his new owl ruffled it's feathers importantly.
"Nah, it's too ordinary. I want a dragon," James looked over at Sirius and grinned.
He gave him an odd look, "Alrighty then..."
Then, "So where are we off to next?"
"Ollivanders!" James exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. He had been looking forward to getting a wand of his own ever since he was three, when he had accidentally came across his father's wand...
Sirius grinned, "Race ya there."
The two began pounding down the streets of Diagon Alley, making witches and wizards cry out in shock and leap out of the way.
James was running ahead, and he just couldn't resist rubbing it in Sirius' face. Turning his head so that he was looking at the struggling figure behind him, he was about to yell "I'm faster than you are!" when he crashed into a redheaded girl just outside of the robe shop.
"Ow!"
Somehow, James wound up sitting on top of her. It was a rather odd position to be in, really.
He blinked and looked down at the girl, who looked annoyed, to say the least. He grinned at her.
"What the-? Can you get off me?" she said huffily. Her temper seemed to match her hair. James did not budge as she made movements to shove him off.
"Nup, hey this is a pretty comfy place," James said mischievously. He loved annoying people.
"Uh," she groaned, her green eyes sparkling with intensity.
Then, it seemed like she had a sudden burst of strength, and with one, strong budge she had managed to knock James off of her.
"Hey, what are you doing?" he asked, bewildered, toppling off onto the ground.
The girl glared at her, then began rubbing her waist. James supposed he had hurt her.
Oh the poor girl.
The poor, poor girl.
The poor, poor, poor--
James decided he should apologise.
"Aww... I'm sorry," he said with a charming grin, "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Hey James! You -- yes you there!"
It was Sirius. He had finally caught up.
"What is it Sirius?" James asked carelessly.
Sirius grinned, "Nothing. Now, will you introduce me to this?"
He was gesturing to the redheaded girl.
"Excuse me, I am human," she said haughtily.
James snickered. She was a feisty one.
Sirius had that familiar mischievous glint in his eye, "You are?!"
She whammed him on the head. James began to snigger again.
Sirius was rubbing the side of his head, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Now, let me rephrase that. James, will you please introduce me to this nice pretty girl that happens to be human, unlike the rest of the world's population of girls."
James sighed in a fake pitying sort of way and said, "Nope. Such a pity. I don't know her, I just knocked her over."
Sirius sniggered, "Great way to introduce yourself James."
"Introductories are for people," James retorted, not exactly thinking what he was saying. He turned to the poor, poor, poor girl and dipped an imaginary hat, "Good day to you, Miss."
"See ya," Sirius said, waving to her. He then began to walk after James.
"What was that all about?" he asked, as soon as he had caught up with him.
James shrugged, "I just knocked that girl over when I was running."
Sirius began laughing again, and James had to elbow him in the ribs as they entered Ollivanders.
"Ahhh, good morning Mr Potter, good morning Mr Black. Which wand will choose the wizard first?" the old man behind the counter said mysteriously. He was Mr Ollivander, and it was known that he had a son that was just as creepy as his father.
James interpreted his words to mean "Who's getting their wand first?"
"Err, I will," he said uncertainly, glancing at Sirius.
"Mmm, I see you have a good arm's length, yes, yes, quite good indeed. Hmm, perhaps a strong type of wand? ... It would be an excellent choice for you," Mr Ollivander said thoughtfully, while his tape measure measured itself around James.
The poor boy had no idea what to say, and decided not to say anything at all. It was like Mr Ollivander was speaking to himself.
After a bit of rummaging, he handed a wand to James.
"Try this wand; eight inches long, made of oak, containing a unicorn hair."
James reached for the wand, feeling a bit nervous. But as soon as he had raised it, the creepy man had snatched it out right out of his grasp.
"No, no, that won't work," he said, shaking his head. He hastily stuffed the wand back into the box, and handed James another one.
"Nine and a half inches long. Dragon heartstring. Very flexible. Try it."
The blackhaired boy waved the wand, but Mr Ollivander grabbed it back almost at once.
"No, not that either," said Mr Ollivander, sounding excited.
"This will do... Yes, I think this will..." he said slowly. In his hand was a dark, sleek wand that was rather long.
"Eleven inches. Mahogany, pliable. A little more power."
James took it, wondering how many wands he would have to go through before he found the right one, and waved it slowly. This time, Mr Ollivander didn't take it back.
"Excellent! The wand has found you!" beamed Mr Ollivander, "Well... Mr Black, you're next. Oh yes, that will be seven Galleons, thank you Mr Potter..."
---
It happened. Their first year at Hogwarts was over. It was amazing.
Lily had really enjoyed it, but she couldn't help but regret that the year had passed by so quickly. It only seemed like yesterday (yes, she knew that sounded so tacky) when she had arrived at the grand castle, for the start-of-term banquet. Now, she was sitting at the Gryffindor table, about to have the end-of-year feast.
She reminisced about the year; receiving her letter, going to Diagon Alley, meeting Anna and Paige, meeting the Marauders, getting sorted, her fear of Charms...
The redhead grinned when she remembered what Sirius and James had said about Charms. It was rather amusing now, seeing as her best subject was ironically Charms.
"Lily! LILY!"
Paige was yelling, waving her hand in front of Lily's face.
"Huh -- what?" Lily blinked, coming back down to earth.
From across the table, Anna rolled her eyes, "Honestly Lil, Snape and Malfoy calls us Mudbloods and you still don't realise five minutes later?"
"They called us what?!" Lily exclaimed, clueless, "Sorry... I was just thinking about stuff. Anyway, where are they? And where are the boys?"
The seats usually occupied by the Marauders were empty.
Paige nodded her head over to her right, and Lily turned to see that James and Sirius were beating the pulp out of Snape and Malfoy. Remus looked rather skeptical, but helpless at the same time.
"Merlin, they're rather touchy about the word 'Mudblood'," Lily said, looking astonished.
Paige made a face, "Well, it is a really bad insult. I was tempted to slap Snape across the face, but the boys just rushed off and began beating him and Malfoy up."
"Maybe... maybe I should stop them," the redhead said doubtfully, watching as James sank his fist into Malfoy's stomach.
"Nuh, the teaches are onto it," Anna said flexibly. She was right; Professor Laincoff, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flash were rushing towards the fight, and pulling each boy apart.
Lily nodded numbly, wondering if they were alright.
The three boys came striding back. James and Sirius were both a bit bruised and Sirius' lip was bleeding, but they were grinning. Remus was rolling his eyes.
"You really killed them, didn't you?" Paige said bluntly, looking at Snape and Malfoy who were covered in blood, bruises and many cuts.
"Yeah, of course," James said logically, sliding into his seat.
"And to top it off, we've got a month's worth of detentions," Sirius smiled happily, "Reaching my goal won't be as hard as I thought."
"Easy for you to say," Remus retorted, "But what about the other people whose lifelong ambitions don't have anything to do with getting five hundred detentions?"
Sirius just shrugged and laughed.
"You got a detention as well?" Anna asked skeptically, "But you were just spectating!"
"Well, Laincoff made sure I didn't get away with anything, so I received one."
"Too bad she didn't give me an extra ten," Sirius' eyes gleamed and everyone laughed.
Lily suddenly felt a tug. Someone was pulling on her ponytail.
She turned around and looked up, to see a tall boy with curly brown hair and blue eyes.
She was taken-aback for a second.
"Err hi, may I help you?" she asked uncertainly. Everyone looked up in interest.
"I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me..." he dawdled over his words, then looked up hopefully.
Lily was even more taken aback.
This boy was at least a third year, possibly older, she had no idea who he was, nor what House he was in. And anyway, who would pull a girl's ponytail to ask them out?!
Strange, how the world was turning out.
Fortunately, Sirius saved her, though he was having a laughing fit.
"Sorry, Miss Evans here is not quite so interested in dating people at this age, but we'll give you a call next time when she's ready! Have a good day, kind sir," Sirius chuckled.
The boy scowled at Sirius before stalking off.
"Someone's in a bad mood," Paige giggled.
Lily glared at her friends, who were laughing.
"May I have your attention please?" Professor Dumbledore's voice sounded, and everyone fell silent.
"Another year has gone by, and thus, we shall end it with our end-of-year feast. But first, let us congratulate our Head Boy and Girl for this year, Sandra Charleston from Ravenclaw and Anthony McKinnon from Gryffindor."
The Great Hall exploded in enormous applause, as Sandra and Anthony, both grinning, went up and bowed.
"Yes, yes, they have done an excellent job," Dumbledore smiled, "Great ambassadors and leaders of Hogwarts! Sandra, Anthony, please be seated. And now, let the feast begin!"
Lily was flooded with the memory of when Dumbledore had said that at the beginning of the year. She smiled reminiscently.
They hall was full of happy chatter, smiles and jokes as everyone helped themselves to the delicious food.
"It's kind of sad and regretful to think that our first year has already finished, isn't it?" Paige said, taking a bite of her salad.
Anna and Lily nodded mutely, both looking glassy-eyed as they thought of their year that had just flew by.
The Marauders, seeing the girls look so sad, decided to cheer them up.
"What should we do?" Sirius asked, looking concerned, "I mean, I know it's pretty awful that we only have six years left, but still! Just think of HOLIDAYS!"
James chewed heavily on some chicken, and looked thoughtful.
Then a mischievous grin spread across his face and he picked up his corn-on-cob slowly, moving it towards his mouth.
And quite suddenly, he moved his hands quickly and the corn flew out of his grasp and hit Lily on the head.
"OW!" she yelped, rubbing the spot where James had thrown the corn at her.
Glaring at him, she reached over for Paige's corn and threw it at James.
"Hey, I was about to eat that!" Paige complained. She grabbed a spoonful of mashed potato and flicked it at Lily, who ducked. The potato whizzed past her head and smashed onto Sirius' face.
Sirius, looking nonplussed, reached over and grabbed a slice of cake. He hurled it at Remus, who was busy showering Lily with peas.
Anna took a spoonful of jelly and flopped it on Paige's hair. She screamed and accidentally knocked over a jug of pumpkin juice onto a second year.
"FOOD FIGHT!" someone yelled, and the Great Hall was full of SPLAT and SPLODGE noises, as well as screams, while the students began to have a food fight.
"Children -- please!"
Professor McGonagall was standing up at her place at the High Table, but then she felt something hit her on the side of her head.
Professor Dumbledore laughed musically while McGonagall gave up her job of being the stern-teacher, and took a slice of pie to seek revenge.
And that started a food fight among the teachers.
[ Life is a party,
Lets get it started,
Get it started,
Get it
started tonight.
Life is a party,
Get excited,
You're
invited,
There's a party tonight. ]
Title: Life Is A Party ll Artist:
Aaron Carter
James and Sirius were targeting the Slytherins without them suspecting. James was about to hurl a pudding a Slytherin first year when Lily yelled at him.
"POTTER!"
He looked up in interest, and in a split second realised that had been a mistake when he saw a blueberry pie flying at him.
James grinned and wiped the blueberry pie remains off of him, before raising the aforementioned pudding and hurling it at the redhead.
She yelped and grabbed a jug of pineapple juice, splashing it all over James. He stood there, shivering, and got a bowl of spaghetti before chasing a screaming Lily around the Great Hall.
When she got tired of running, she leapt onto the Ravenclaw table and scooped up a bowl of ice cream.
James skidded to a stop, realising that Lily had reinforcements.
They stood there for a couple of seconds, eyeing each other.
Then both of them yelled and smushed the bowl of whatever into each other's faces.
They collapsed onto the floor, wiping the gunk off of their faces. Then they glanced at each other and --
Cracked up laughing.
--Platform Nine and Three-Quarters--
"See ya Lily!" Paige said, hugging Lily tightly.
"Goodbye dearest, remember to owl me."
Lily released Paige, and turned to say goodbye to Anna.
She went around and hugged Sirius and Remus as well, but stopped abruptly when it came to James.
Yeah, yeah... she knew he was an annoying, arrogant prick but...
She had to admit she was going to miss him a little bit.
"Later Evans," James said, smiling at her cockily, "Can I call you Red Fire?"
Lily looked at him skeptically, "Red Fire?!"
"Yeah, it sounds really cool," James continued to smile, while Cheryl shushed him up.
Rose laughed, hugging Lily protectively. The parentals and children finished off their goodbyes, before it was leaving time.
Then as Lily went through the barrier, crossing back to the Muggle world, she said very, very quietly.
"Goodbye James..."
======
---->A/N: Life is a parrrrty! ((does victory dance)) --MSQ.