Catch Me If You Can
Chapter Sixteen ll Anna's Disappearance
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"Lily!" Petunia called as soon as Lily walked through the front door.
"Petunia!" Lily imitated her with a smile, "What's up?"
"Nothing; how was the movies?" Petunia asked, following her younger sister into the kitchen.
"Pretty good, I watched the Wizard of Oz. How was Rinatta?" Lily looked in the fridge and took out a bottle of milk. She wandered over to the cupboard and began to search for chocolate flavouring.
"She was okay," Petunia said dismissively, "Hey, get me a glass, will you? Anyway... how was James?"
Lily rolled her eyes as she put the two glasses down onto the counter and handed a spoon to Petunia, "He was fine. Didn't even watch the movie."
There was a brief silence as both girls heaped spoons of chocolate powder into their glasses.
"So did you have fun?" Petunia wanted to know, watching as Lily poured milk into her glass.
Lily said nothing for a moment as she poured milk into her own glass. She then stirred it all up. Petunia lifted her glass to her mouth casually and took a sip.
The redhead was about to answer 'no', on account of James. But as she mixed the last of the milk and chocolate together, she realised she had had a bit of fun. Going to the movies alone would've been boring.
"Yup," she said, grinning as Petunia almost choked at her unexpected answer.
---
Lily spent the rest of the summer holidays with her family and sometimes with James. She constantly owled Anna and Paige, and Sirius, Remus and Peter too. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves as well.
When Lily's Hogwarts' letter arrived again, it was a joyous, sunny morning. The birds were singing, the air was clear and fresh and there was not a single cloud in the sky. It was peaceful and harmonious until--
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Lily, who had been brushing her teeth sleepily, immediately became alert and ran out of the bathroom. She rushed to where the noise had came from. Petunia's bedroom.
"Ahhh!"
She burst into Petunia's bedroom. Her older sister, looking utmost terrified, was standing on her bed in the corner of her room. She was holding a pillow up as if it was a baseball bat.
"Petunia, what the bloody hell are you doing?!" Lily shrieked, still feeling panicked.
"It's -- THAT!" she screamed and ducked as something like a ball of feathers swooped over her head.
Lily stared at it.
"Whoa, Pet. Pet! Pet! Stop it! That's an owl!"
"Well make it go away!"
The two girls struggled for awhile. Finally, Lily caught the ruffled and frightened owl in her arms and held it for long enough to take the letter it had tied around it's leg.
"What is it?" gasped Petunia, watching her sister read the piece of parchment.
"It's my Hogwarts letter."
"Again?"
"Pet, we recieve one every year. This has my booklist for second year," Lily explained.
"Uhh okay," Petunia said, looking thoroughly confused, "Well that settles it. OUT OF MY BEDROOM!"
A screaming and laughing Lily got chased out of the room by her older sister who was striking her with her pillow.
---
Snap. Crackle. Pop.
Petunia and Lily were having rice bubbles for breakfast. Rose was busy, as usual, at the sink washing coffee mugs.
"Mum," Lily said between spoonfuls, "I need to go to Diagon Alley to get my Hogwarts' stuff for this year."
"Alright then, dear," Rose said, turning around and sitting at the kitchen table, "Pet, why won't you put any milk on that?"
"Because soggy cereal is gross," Petunia said matter-of-factly.
"But then so is dry cereal," Lily pointed out.
"Yeah, that's why I don't like eating cereal."
"Why don't you pour milk on it, then eat it really quickly before it gets soggy?" the redhead suggested, licking her spoon.
"Because I don't like eating my meals fast," Petunia said with a grin, knowing this would agitate her sister and mother. She was a fussy eater.
"Anyway Lily, I can't take you to Diagon Alley today. I have a meeting to attend to," Rose continued smoothly, putting yoghurt over her muesli.
"But--" Lily started, "We're booked out for the rest of the week, and I return back to Hogwarts in a week's time. There's no other day I can go!"
Rose frowned, thinking hard, while Petunia looked at her mother interestedly.
"I'll go talk to Cheryl today, and maybe we can arrange for you to go with the Potters. I'm sure James needs to buy his things as well," was her final verdict.
Lily sighed on the outside, but warmed up on the inside of spending another day with James.
She wondered if she was going crazy.
---
Cheryl Potter had dropped both Lily and James off at Diagon Alley, making them both promise that they would stick together and not wander off by themselves.
"Stay strictly in Diagon Alley, and don't go anywhere else. James, dear, look after Lily, alright? I'll be back in a couple of hours -- at around three o'clock. You two have lunch here, I'm expecting you'll behave yourselves, now, won't you? I'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron then. Bye dears, have fun and be careful!"
As soon as she had left, the two began to argue.
"Gringotts!"
"Apothecary!"
"Gringotts!"
"Apothecary!"
"GRINGOTTS!"
"APOTHECARY!"
"Potter, listen up," Lily said through clenched teeth, "If we go to Gringotts, we can get our money to go and buy something from the Apothecary."
James looked at her a few seconds. Then he smiled, "Oh yeah."
A thoroughly annoyed Lily led the way to the big, stone building that looked like it would collapse any moment.
When they reached the glass doors, the two saw a little message on the doors that they obviously hadn't noticed the previous year.
'Enter stranger but take heed,
Of what awaits the sin of greed.
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors,
A treasure that was never yours.
Thief, you have been warned, beware,
Of finding more than treasure there.'
"You know, legend goes that dragons guard the vaults," James told Lily as they pushed the doors and strolled in.
"Really?" Lily said, shuddering a little.
"No."
She glared at him.
When they had filled their bags with gold, they headed over to the Apothecary; then to Flourish and Blotts, Madam Malkin's Robes (James had grown a few inches taller), the funny 'Train Tickets' store and finally, Florean Fortescue's.
They licked their gigantic ice creams as they walked back to the Leaky Cauldron, waiting for Cheryl. As they sat there, James licked the caramel sauce off his ice cream and looked rather unhappy.
"The holidays are over," he said mournfully, his eyes not meeting Lily's.
Lily was surprised. She couldn't recall seeing James upset before.
"Cheer up. Hogwarts is cool. And we'll see all of our friends again."
James brightened up a little as he smiled, "I suppose so. I've seen one of my friends already, though..."
Lily assumed he had meant Remus or Sirius had visited over the summer.
She had no idea that his little "friend" was actually her.
---
There was generally a lot of bickering as Lily and James dragged their suitcases and overnight bags to Alex Potter's car.
"Ow!" she screeched as James dropped his heavy trunk on her foot for the third time.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly, throwing it into the boot of the car.
The Potters were driving Lily to King's Cross Station.
With some help from Alex, she finally managed to throw the last of her belongings into the car. Will, Rose and Petunia was standing in the driveway.
Lily ran back to them and hugged each of them tightly.
"Be careful, Lily, and have fun," Rose whispered, holding her daughter close.
"I will, mum," Lily smiled as she fought back tears. Another year without her family...
Petunia had a few tears in her eyes as she hugged her younger sister.
Finally, the redhead was in the car beside James, waving at her family.
James insisted on singing "BINGO" all the way to King's Cross. When they reached the station, they were in a rather big rush.
"You go through first, Lily, dear," Cheryl said hastily, "Come on, now, let's not dawdle."
Lily, grasping firmly onto the trolley, ran straight at the barrier between Platform Nine and Ten.
"OWIE HELL!"
Gasping, the redhead wheeled her trolley away. It revealed Sirius lying on the floor.
"Oh my gosh, Sirius! I'm so sorry!" she cried, helping him to his feet.
"Hello Lily," Sirius said painfully, getting to his feet.
"What were you doing standing there anyway?"
Sirius grinned and shrugged, "Ya never know when some pretty girl's going to knock you off your feet."
Lily rolled her eyes. At that moment, James materialized through the barrier.
"Onto the train, you guys," Sirius said urgently, before any greetings could start to fly by, "It's leaving in a couple of minutes."
Lily and James got their belongings onto the train, and boarded on. They found the compartment Remus, Paige, Sirius and Peter were in.
"Hi!" Lily squealed, hugging Paige tightly. She was a little taller than when Lily had first seen her, and her hair was a lot curlier and lighter.
"What did you do to your hair?" Lily asked, aghast.
Paige laughed, "I got it permed and bleached it a little. Like it?"
"It's nice," was Lily's reply.
"Hey, where's Anna?" she finally asked, after everyone had hugged and asked the boring question of how their summers had been.
"Uhhhh..." Remus glanced around, "I don't know..."
The doors shut and the train creaked as it began to move.
"I hope she didn't miss it," Paige said, shuddering.
Sirius and James just shrugged.
Peter spoke up, "Look what I got!"
He produced a Remembrall.
"That's wicked, Pete," Lily said, staring as the transparent sphere began to cloud up with scarlet smoke.
"I think you've forgotten something," Paige said, also looking at the Remembrall.
Peter looked at it, then frowned.
After awhile, the four boys put their heads together and began to whisper about "top secret" stuff, although it was obvious they were discussing about this year's pranks.
"Alright, I can't take anymore of this," Lily said, after five minutes of hushed whispering coming from the Marauders, "Paige, let's go look for Anna. She's got to be on this train somewhere."
Paige nodded, and the two girls left the compartment.
As soon as they had left, the boys returned to their normal positions, instead of huddling together.
"So what's the deal with Lily, Jamie-boy?" Sirius asked good-naturedly.
"What do you mean?" James asked, completely nonplussed.
"Oh come on, we all know that you live right next door to her. Did you two get together over the summer?" Remus asked slyly.
"We... went shopping? And out to dinner?" James tried, still confused.
"Out to dinner?!" Remus and Sirius chorused.
"With our families -- family bonding," James said slowly.
"Oh."
"So your parents like each other, then?" Remus asked.
"Of course they do! Why else would they get married?" James said, exasperated.
"No, not them," Sirius rolled his eyes, "I mean, yes them. But them and Lily's parents."
"Oh," James was still puzzled at the random topic of conversation, "Yeah, I suppose they like each other. But not in the sense that they'd get married."
Remus and Sirius rolled their eyes.
"Yes... so..." Sirius said suddenly. He glanced at Remus, and nodded.
"When'sthewedding?" they said in unison.
James frowned, "I told you, my parents and Evan's parents aren't getting married! That's like a -- foursome!"
Remus looked at him pityingly. He turned to Sirius, "He doesn't get it."
"Figures," Sirius said with a sigh, "Let me rephrase that, James. When'syourwedding?"
"My wedding, you say," James said, looking utterly astounded, "I have no idea. When is it?"
"Well, you know, I was hoping you'd tell me."
"But I can't. Who am I getting married to?"
"I don't know, who are you getting married to?" Lily said, walking back into the compartment right at that moment with Paige behind her.
Remus and Sirius began to laugh. Peter was chuckling.
"Couldn't find Anna?" Remus asked the two girls after he had calmed down.
Paige shook her head solemnly, "It's like she's fallen through a blackhole in cyberspace."
"Wait a minute," James said, frowning, "Did you two even bother to look for her? You're back pretty soon."
Lily and Paige went a bit pink.
"Well, we did explore a bit!" the redhead said indignantly.
"Uh huh, I'm sure..."
"Oh, that's it. We're looking for her again," Lily snapped moodily, leaping up and grabbing Paige's hand.
"Well, talk about mood swings," Sirius mumbled as the two girls left again.
---
Lily and Paige searched the train thoroughly, but could not find their other best friend. When they finally returned back to their own compartment, it was past midday and the four boys were all asleep, surrounded by half-eaten Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties and assorted candy wrappers.
With a small smile on her face, Lily murmured, "I suppose the witch-with-the-trolley has already come by."
Paige nodded. She tiptoed past a sleeping Sirius and sat beside him. Picking up a half-eaten Chocolate Frog, she turned to Lily, "You don't suppose Sirius bit this, do you?"
Lily chuckled quietly, "Just eat it, Paige."
She looked around and found a whole Cauldron Cake in James' lap. She reached over and took it from him. As she did, her emerald eyes fell on the sleeping James.
He looks so... adorable.
Grimacing slightly at this thought, she straightened up, turned away from Sleeping Beauty (yeah, right) and bit into her cake furiously.
---
"Fir's years, firs' years!"
"Where are we supposed to go?" James asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Second years and above to the carriages," called a prefect.
"Well that answers it," Sirius said, pushing past people and leading the way to the carriages.
They got into an empty one. Paige sighed as she laid her head onto the window pane, "Where do you think she is?"
"Anna?" Remus said quietly, "I have no idea. But no biggie -- we'll see her at the feast."
"I hope so," Lily said dubiously.
When the carriages reached the castle, they climbed the stone steps to the castle. Lily felt a warm relief sweep over her as she saw the big, welcoming castle. She had missed Hogwarts so much.
"Ah, dear wonderful Great Hall," Paige murmured blissfully, as they walked in and took their spots at the Gryffindor table. When the rest of the school were seated, the double doors opened. In marched Professor McGonagall, leading a large group of terrified first years.
"Wow, so tiny," James murmured, "I don't remember being that small, ever."
Meanwhile, Lily kept a lookout for Anna.
Professor McGonagall explained the Sorting to the first years, who all seemed to look undoubtedly terrified.
Lily remember how scared she had been.
"Now, this year, the Sorting Hat will read out the names," Professor McGonagall finished earnestly.
Well that's a change, Lily thought vaguely, as her eyes fell upon the tattered hat perched upon the three-legged stool.
Professor McGonagall nodded briefly towards the first years, then sat in her place at the High Table.
The Sorting Hat suddenly burst into a song.
"Oh when you take one glance at me.
You'll think me very ugly.
But when I sort you in your house,
You'll praise and even hug me.
I've got the lot of brains in me,
The founders put them there.
So when you put me on your head,
You'll find my choice is fair.
There's Gryffindor, bold and brave,
With courage that'd never fail.
Mighty and determined,
Good Gryffindor will always prevail.
And Ravenclaw, clever as can be,
With brains and huge cleverness.
Witty, quick and smart,
This house would always be of the best.
Always good and loyal,
Hufflepuff serves well.
With little nerves, but good friendship,
This is a loyal house, you can tell.
And Slytherin, power loving Slytherin,
Determined to the end.
You can count on them to help you,
Even if the roads has it's bends.
So put me on your head,
I'll look into your mind.
I'll see what house you belong in,
There's nothing I can't find!"
"Why didn't it sing last year?" Paige asked Remus as the Great Hall burst into hearty applause. Remus merely shrugged.
"I can sing better than that!" James proclaimed boldly.
Lily snorted.
When the clapping finished, the Sorting began. And while Lily watched the terrified first years get sorted, she never felt more at home.
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---->A/N: I know this random but... I like my home. Hehe. And don't you just love my Sorting Hat song? LOL. Yep, I made it up. 100% by me. ((VERY PROUD... NOT)) --MSQ.