Woo Hoo! I am back in action, and here is Chapter 2! Just to let you guys know, updates will be random at best. My time to write is based solely on what free time I end up having at work, and I can never predict how much that will be. I hope it won't be more then 2 weeks between updates, but I really don't have a choice in the matter, so my apologies in advance.
BTW: Road signs are evil, homicidal and just plain scary. It is really not fun when one tries to find its way through your windshield to try to kill you..... Long story not getting into it.
Warnings: Nothing much, a few bad words and a lot of bad humor, nothing too traumatizing.
Disclaimer: I don't own the universe the characters or the idea. OK I do have some claim to a few of the characters that don't appear in the book, and the idea behind this particular piece of writing is mine, but I don't own anything else. All I can do is praise J.K. Rowling for the fantastic stories, and hope I won't get sued....
Endless Journey
Chapter 2
Falling Falling Falling
"Why does it always have to rain? I think there is a curse or something." This caused me to look up from my book and over at Tres. I had just about finished anyways, so I added a few more notes, and put my new journal down. Looking over at the window again, I could see what she meant. It was raining, a lot. I could see the rain coming down in buckets, and every once in a while lightning would streak the sky.
"Oh goody, another mad dash to avoid getting soaked, this should be fun." My friends knew how I felt about rain. They just smiled at me as I continued to complain,
"I hate the rain. I mean it's pretty and all, but it always causes my hair to go haywire. Every year I try to put on a good image, spend hours doing my hair, and then bam! Rain! And then it all goes to hell. Stupid rain...." They were used to this statement too. I suppose it would have meant more, if I didn't say the same damned thing every single year. But it wasn't my fault. The only times I actually spend time on my appearance is the first day of school, and any balls or what not. It just takes my too damned long to do it for every day. I suppose I might actually try if I had a date or something that I actually cared about. But that doesn't ever happen.
"Yes, we know Lily, rain sucks, and we hate it." That was my other friend, Doro. She didn't have to worry about it at all. Her blond hair was straight as a board, regardless of wind, water, or gratuitous use of a curling iron or curling charm. Although it might have something to do with the fact that it is so damned long. I once heard that long hair has a harder time holding a curl because of the weight. Eh, we'll just say she is too damned lucky and leave it at that.
"Thank guys, your sympathy means so much to me..." I love my friends, don't get me wrong. But that statement definitely deserved some sarcasm. Luckily for me, they're used to that and just looked at me and laughed.
I spent a few more minutes lamenting about the evil rain, and how all it wanted to do was ruin me before I got a book thrown at me. A quick glance at my watch told me it had only taken three minutes. Yes, a new record! A few more minutes gloating to myself over how quickly I got them to react and then pulled my brain back into the real world.
"Ok, I'll ignore the rain for now. So what's the plan for tonight, the usual?" This earned me a few more glares before Tres decided to reply. A quick roll of her hazel eyes accompanied the words.
"You mean the same tradition that we have done every year since we met? Of course you dimwit, why the hell would we change it now?" Insert big grin here.
Our tradition, I loved it, and looked forward to it every summer. We would spend the first night back at school staying up all night, talking and eating whatever we could get our hands on. If we were feeling exceptionally adventurous we would take a trip down the kitchens and talk the house elves into giving us whatever we wanted. Why we did this, I don't know. But it was fun. We also ended up playing all sorts of weird games and generally irritating the hell out of our roommates. Sometimes they would play for a while, and sometimes they would just put up silencing charms and go to sleep. This year I had a great surprise for them though. I had finally figured out how to charm my CD player to work at Hogwarts, and had brought a whole bunch of muggle music to expose my friends too. Being that they are magical, they had never heard any of this, and I was really looking forward to showing off my favorite songs.
I could tell they were wondering just what I had up my sleeve. I had been hinting through letters all summer that I had a surprise for them, but I didn't give any clues or anything. That was mostly payback for them always teasing me near Christmas about my gifts. They know I hate waiting, and I hate surprises even more so. Needless to say I had been having a blast tormenting them about it.
"You know, you scare me sometimes." Tres muttered. I suppose the evil grin I had on my face had something to do with this comment. Forcing my face into a less creepy look I turned back to her.
"Can't imagine why!" That was when I saw the looks on their faces. They had evil grins on their faces too, and I could see the gleam in their eyes. Suddenly, I was the one in trouble again. I started backing towards the door of the compartment. Once I found it, I started looking for the latch, hoping I would find it, or sink through the door, which ever happened first.
"I know what your thinking and it's not going to work. Stay away! Don't come any closer! Back away slowly! Eeek!!!!!" The last part wasn't planned. It just kind of popped out of my mouth as I fell through the door that had suddenly opened behind me. Not my fault, I was startled! And falling into the person that opened the door was not my fault. He opened it after all.
"Nice going Prongs. Already have the ladies falling all over you." Ah yes, one of the famous Marauders, Sirius to be exact. He was standing over me, his dark eyes twinkling with mirth at my situation. Ok, our situation. And I could feel the laughter from the person I was laying on.
"Glad to see I'm amusing at least." I muttered as I climbed off of my break pad. A snort of laughter came from the person I was climbing off of; I guess I wasn't as quiet about it as I thought. Oh well.
Oh joy, oh rapture, curse my freaking luck. You want to make a guess at who I fell on? You got it, James Potter. He's a nice guy and all, but I don't want him thinking I like him or something twisted like that. I have better things to do with my time then fawn over boys, harassing them is one thing, but fawning? Never!
"Oh hey James, Sirius, How's it going? Have a good summer?" Thank you Tres, thank you thank you thank you! Feeling my cheeks burning I slunk back into the compartment and sat back down, trying desperately to hide behind my hair. It didn't work too well though, stupid red hair, always standing out. I could feel another pout coming on. I glared balefully at my hair and tried to listen in on the conversation to see how humiliated I should be feeling.
"Doing well, just trying to find a compartment. The Slytherins infested ours so we're looking for a place to hide for the rest of the trip. Think we could squeeze in here?" Ah, he speaks. I so want to smirk and say something sarcastic. But they don't know me well enough, they probably wouldn't get it.
"Sure, as long as you don't mind random stripping, groping or whatnot"
....Stupid out loud voice. They seem to be slightly stunned; a quick wave in front of the eyes confirms it. Their brains have completely shut down. I don't think they even realize that Tres and Doro are laughing. Maybe I should clue them in. Although it would be fun to leave them like this, I could set them in our room like huge huggy toys....
I guess I should be nice. Although it is really tempting.
"I'm kidding. Sure you guys can stay here, but if you're bringing the rest of your group it's going to be slightly tight." I can't help but grin here, it's not my fault they are too gullible. With a quick nod James drags Sirius out the door and down the hall. I'm beginning to think Sirius never caught on. Oh well, something to tease about later.
"Lily, you are a riot! Poor Sirius, I think he thought we were serious." Doro muttered as we rearranged our stuff so that everyone would fit. We didn't have our robes on yet, so we would all end up having to go to the restrooms to change, rather then in the compartment like we we're used to.
"You know, we could really scar them, and still change in here. Maybe do a little striptease...."
Ok, that caused me to fall over laughing. I knew Tres and I had similar thoughts, but that was just creepy.
"Get out of my head!" I shrieked, "I was just thinking the same thing. Weird," Tres just laughed at me. Not an unusual occurrence.
"Here's a thought, where are we all going to sit? These things aren't made to hold seven people, especially when most of them are fully grown boys. There is no way we are all going to fit comfortably." Strangely enough Doro was right. It was a damned good question. I just shrugged and looked hopefully over at Tres. I had to bat my eyelashes a few times and smile innocently before she caved. She just sighed and nodded.
"Fine, Lily you sit on my lap, Doro you sit across from us, and they can fit in how they want." I gave a happy little cry. I love sitting on people's laps. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You know the feeling: the one like you just had a dose of Pepper-up Potion and a few Chocolate frogs. Only it's better! Nothing is quite as spiffy as sitting on someone's lap. And I have yet to find anything that instantly makes me happier.
"Sooooo Lily, was it fun?" I blink in surprise. I know I can be slow sometimes, but I have no idea what the hell Doro is talking about.
"Huh?" Ah yes, am I not eloquent? By the way Doro is rolling her eyes I have to think she doesn't agree. Either that or she's frustrated by how clueless I'm being.
"Laying on James Potter, was he comfortable? Did he hold you, were their sparks? He is awfully dreamy." There are days when I forget how freaking crazy this girl is.
"Doro, which ever voice happens to be in control, I landed on him, it's not as if we just spent the afternoon having wild passionate monkey sex." All I get for that witty comment is a glare; I must be loosing my touch. I rolled my eyes and told her the truth.
"It was hard, unexpected, and really not that much fun."
"But wouldn't it be fantastic, making love to James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, or Peter Pettigrew" Tres sighed, and I swear I could almost see the hearts in her eyes, silly boy crazy goofball.
"Imagine that, us being that fantastic. Never would have thought it huh Padfoot." Wait a second...Aw damnit, wonder how long they've been standing there. Doro does have a point though; they are quite nice to look at. As long as I don't drool I should be happy. I throw a quick glare at Tres for being so melodramatic and bury my head in her dark hair. Maybe if I can't see them, they won't see me. Or at least not notice the bright red shade that adorns my cheeks. I bet I look like a just got attacked by a hyper five year old with blush, stupid pale skin.
"You're not going to ask, we're not going to tell, and we are now changing the subject." Am so not going there, way to easy to poke fun at. Tres should really learn to watch her tongue. But I guess because she is my best friend I should help her out a bit.
"Right, so have a seat, pick a new topic and start talking." This was punctuated by my best glare. I know I'm short, kinda scrawny, and I look like a complete pushover. But I do have a mean glare. At least I think so. Sirius smirked at me and took the seat next to Doro. Poor boy has no idea what he is in for. James sat next to Tres and I, and Remus was next to him. Peter sat next to Sirius, so he was on the completely other side of the compartment.
"So what did everyone do this summer?" Good starting topic, lots to talk about, go Remus, great idea!
You know what. I just realized that while I have known these guys for five years now, I don't know them. It could be fun finding out what makes the Marauders tick.
"I just hung out at home mostly. It was quite the lazy summer. Although I did manage to get my homework done for once." At this I shot Tres a grin; she was notorious for not getting her homework done on time. To this day I still haven't figured out how she maintains the decent grades she has.
"Sounds like me. Although I did get to harass Petunia but that got boring after the first week. Hey, I don't suppose you guys know what DDR is? Dance Dance Revolution?" Blank looks all around, great now I have to explain it.
"DDR is this Muggle game I got introduced to this summer at the arcade. There is this pad you stand on, it has four buttons: one in front, on behind, and one on either side. You stand in the middle and step on the button that the screen in front of tells you to. It's a strangely addictive game. Not to mention a hell of a workout." Tres looked like she had an idea of what I was talking about although I think it was more her trying not to let me feel like a complete idiot. The others still looked clueless. I sighed.
"Never mind, I'll diagram it out later."
"Ok.... Who's Petunia, and why is she fun to pick on?" Sirius piped up. I forgot that they probably wouldn't have a clue who Petunia was.
"Oh she's my evil older sister. She used to be great, but when I found out that I was a witch she freaked out on me. Now she's always calling me a freak or something equally as nasty. I got sick of hearing that so I started fighting back. Talking about all the cool curses and hexes I knew. She shuts up pretty quickly when I start talking about the ones that makes things appear on your face. She's quite the conceited little brat."
"Ok, you have an evil sister. Anything else we should know?" Peter looked at me thoughtfully.
"Not that I am going to share. If you want to know more about me you have to figure it out for yourselves. More fun that way I think!" I threw a cheeky grin in, just to see how they would react. I got a grin from Sirius and James, and a shrug from Remus. Peter seemed off in his own little world.
"Well, we spent most of the summer together. We all live within flying distance so it's easy to get together over the holidays. Probably the most exciting thing that happened to us was when we decided to go to Muggle London and got horribly lost. Those muggles are creepy," Sirius looked at me with a stunned expression on his face, and quickly tried to back peddle, "Present company and sane family members excluded of course!" Silly Sirius, I know that Muggles and mostly nutty, but I have to admit I thought the Wizarding community was strange when I first came to Hogwarts too. It was then that Doro piped up.
"I spent my time riding the high seas with my father. He's a pirate you know, one of the most fearsome. It's always amusing watching the people cower when they see my father's ship nearby." Doro looked pleased with herself. I'm sure it was the first time all summer she got to talk about her 'Father'.
"Wait.... Your father is a pirate? That's ridiculous. Everyone knows that there is no such thing as real pirates anymore." Aw man, bad idea Remus, now we'll never get her to shut up.
"Excuse me! Of course my Father is a Pirate. He is notorious Iron Dick Burke! He pillages, he plunders, he rifles and loots!" Doro starts singing instead of talking like a normal person. I knew that showing her those lyrics was a bad idea. I just thought she would get a kick out of them, not adopt them..... I sigh and throw a quill at her. Doro just glared and threw it back. I of course had to retaliate. I was preparing myself to throw myself at her and start tickling when I felt a pair of arms wrapped around me holding me back.
"Don't even start." Tres growled as she tightened her grip, keeping me from struggling. I was preparing myself to slide under arms when I saw my watch.
"Shit! We're supposed to arrive in half an hour and we haven't changed yet." I glared at the boys, "Out, we have to change. Go stand in the hall or something." I guess it was then that they realized that we were not yet in our Hogwarts robes, and I was even still in my muggle clothing. With a few minor grumbles and one set of rolled eyes they did worm their way out in the hallway. I threw a quick grin at the closing door and called out cheekily,
"After all, we don't know you well enough yet to just start stripping in front of you." A strange thud came from the hallway, but no words. Tres just smirked and we went about changing.
You know something; I never realized how difficult it could be to change into our uniform and a set of robes in a crowded compartment. After tripping over Peter's luggage, and then falling into Doro, which caused her to topple into Tres, we finally were able to squirm into our correct clothing. We even had it on right; nothing was backwards or inside out. With a wink from Doro, who was trying not to laugh at me, I reopened the doors and invited the guys back in.
"If I hadn't of known better I would have said you guys were doing something more then just changing, but I figured you didn't have the time or the room." Sirius quipped and then glanced around the now really messy compartment,
"And I thought we were slobs."
"Hey! You try changing in a room the size of a closet with 7 bags and two other people, it's not exactly easy" Doro shot back, aiming a Chocolate frog at his head. But of course, him being the "Best Beater" he was able to knock it away before it made contact. I just made myself happy on Tres' lap again.
Well, happy for a moment, until she shoved me off.
"What the hell was that?!"
"You're heavy; find someone else to squish for a while. I want to be able to feel my legs so that I can get off the train." I pouted and glanced around the compartment. Everyone seemed to find something interesting about the wood work about their heads, bastards.
"Fine then, I'll just sit here on the floor and plot your deaths." I let a sadistic grin spread across my face and started humming the most inane song I could think of. I knew Tres and Doro wouldn't fall for it, but I hoped that one of the guys would. The floor was really just not that comfortable.
I could see the looks of unease spread across their faces as they seemed to have a silent conversation, hopefully not trying to figure out if I was serious, but whose lap I was going to get to sit on soon.
"You can sit on me, but only if you promise never to do that again. You are one scary chick, Lily." I threw James a big grin and clamored onto his lap. I happily ignored everyone else as I worked on making myself comfortable.
I eventually ended up sitting across his lap with my feel in Remus's lap, and his arm supporting me from behind. I let my head rest against his shoulder and let my mind wander.
Of course during all of this I had forgotten that we only had a few minutes left before we arrived at Hogsmead. Sure enough, just as I started to dose off the train came to a halt and I was forced to get up. I am not a good morning person, but I am even worse when being woken from my naps, needless to say I was not a happy person right then. I hissed, pouted and made a general nuisance of myself until we actually got off the train. The rain then got me moving.
I could hear the others cackling madly as we dashed towards the carriages, trying to stay as dry as possible I ignored them until I was safely inside. Poking my head back out I could see all of them running into each other and making them fall into the puddles that littered the ground. I guess they were racing to the carriages, and using whatever tactics necessary to stop the others from getting there first. I snickered at the fact that I was already in there, and still fairly dry; they were drenched and covered with mud. I could just see the look on Professor McGonagall's face already. She was not going to be happy, but it was all in good fun, so who cared. After all, a bit of fun is always worth a detention.
With giggles and a lot of shoving Tres and Doro managed to climb into the carriage with me. I snickered at their clothing and they both shot me dirty looks as the carriages started to move.
"You know what? I kinda feel sorry for the First Years. I mean, there they are, out on a boat, in the middle of a thunderstorm. It's lucky that those boats have lots of lightning repellant charms on them or we would be having fried First Years for the feast." Doro commented as she stared out the small window in the carriage. Tres and I shot each other disgusted looks and glared at Doro. She has such a weird mind sometimes, it scares even me.
"You know Doro, we could just throw you in the lake and see if we can get you hit by the lightning, and it might make the voices go away. Muggles do it fairly often. I think it's called Electro Shock Therapy...." I smirked at her, knowing full well the voices were completely made up. Hell, I helped invent them. But it's amazing how much fun it can be to harass her like that.
"You know, I'm not that surprised. Those muggles come up with the strangest ideas. But we will not be getting me shocked unless you want to find doll 3 in your bed some night." At this I pretended to shudder. Voice 3 aka Doll 3, is the psychotic one. We have way too much fun leaving it with slaughtered animals in the other girl's beds. I guess it would be creepy to wake up and find this creepy looking doll in your bed one night.
"You know, that's ok. I've seen enough of Doll 3 for a lifetime. Maybe we can save the Electrocution for some other day." That one got me a laugh, which is always a very good thing. I glanced out the window and groaned.
"Aw man, we're almost to the front doors; I really don't want to go back out in that." I threw in a pout for good measure and glared at the rain. I could hear my friends laughing behind me and pouted some more. Thanks guys, what great friends you are. As we grew closer I started mentally preparing for the sprint to the doors. I know every little bump and ledge in the stonework, and just needed to run through my list and think up my pathway.
Way too soon for my comfort the carriage was slowing to a stop and I could see the entryway lit by two torches. With a quick check to make sure I wasn't going to loose any belongings on the run I threw myself out of the carriage and into a dead sprint for the doors.
Jump that rock
Skirt that uneven part
Stay far, far away from the trick spot, learned that one last year.
Hop over that evil little plant.
Jump the first stair and start climbing.
Woohoo, three more stairs and I'm th...Shit!
As I feel myself flying through the air, I have to wonder who the hell changed the layout of the stairs over the summer. And why the hell didn't they warn us! Oh look, the doors. This is going to hurt....
I can't seem to bring my arms up to stop my fall. Hell I can't seem to do anything but watch those big heavy wood doors come closer and closer. There isn't anything I can, I'm going to hit them, and I do, hard. I feel myself hit the ground, but I can't open my eyes, they've been weighted down by lead. Somewhere out in the fog that makes up my thoughts I can hear a voice. It sounds familiar and strangely comforting, but I can't tell who it is. I hope they bring my inside, its cold out here..... Then there is nothing, just the cold of the stones beneath me; and the fading sensation of pain.
Why does it always have to rain?
Oh! And feel free to review, praise me, tell me I suck, or anything else. I just love hearing from you guys!