Kiway ~ Thank You! My 1st review! I'm so honoured you think my story is that good THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!
CrazystarZ ~ When you read this, the 2nd chapter will be posted. Well duh, cos this is the 2nd Chapter. So sad about the holidays, hey. They went way too quickly! The computer wants to change 'way too' to excessively! What is with that???? 'They went excessively quickly' sounds totally weird. Anyway, bye
Electra*27 ~ Thanks for reviewing, Sam.
Tori-Black ~ Don't worry, I believe in frequent updates, unlike Maria. She should really write more soon. But I am updating. See below for proof
Disclaimer- I don't own the Harry Potter series, but I own many things in this chapter. I mean, the only real connection between this so far and 'Harry Potter' is the names Lily and James, and Hogwarts. Also the word muggle, and the thought of owls carrying mail. Oh and flooing. I think that's all. But if someone finds something else, please don't sue me.
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A Little Bit of Magic
First Impressions
Lily was very nervous. She had never been good meeting strangers, and now meeting a wizard? She started turning blue out of nerves. She was wearing her dress of green and gold and waiting for her gran to pick her up to take her to see Tamekia, then on to the Potters. CRASH! Lily jumped out of fright, fell over upon landing out of shock, and jumped again when she heard a loud, though muffled meow coming from underneath her. She flopped down on her bed and after trying to slow her breathing down, she apologised to her cat Felicia.
"That was stressful," She whispered to herself. After having recovered, she went to lounge room to investigate. She found her gran lying on the fireplace mat with the standard lamp on top of her.
"Lily, flower, be a dear and help me up."
A year ago, Lily would have just stood there staring, or maybe even fainted, but now she was starting to discover that these things just happened in the wizarding world.
"OK flower, ready to go?"
Lily just nodded.
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Her hair was up with gold-coloured flowers in it, her makeup was done, she even had to admit to herself – she looked stunning. "Oh thank you so much Tamekia"
"Yes thankyou. I am going to be so proud of her tonight."
"My pleasure. Well, bye Lily, you don't want to be late"
"Yes come on Lily. Is it alright if we use your fireplace Tamekia?"
"Sure"
"Do we really have to travel by floo again?"
"Yes we must. It's the quickest way, the Potters are expecting us, and at least they have there fireplace free of lamps…"
"Sorry Gran, but out of all the methods of transport, coming down the chimney isn't really the first one that springs to mind. I even swept the driveway especially for you, but no, the chimney it was."
Lily rolled her eyes, laughed, and walked into the fireplace.
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Many bumps, jolts, thumps, shakes, strikes, bangs, hits, knocks, jerks, joggles, clashes, thrashes, bashes, crashes, smashes, shoves, whacks, shatters, slams, hammers, pounds, and wallops later, Lily arrived at the Potter's house, in a town called Bloomfield, in the south of Scotland. She was amazing clean after this horrifying, terrible, frightening ordeal otherwise known as flooing.
"Lily dear, there you are! Oh you look beautiful! Oh Margaret! Your granddaughter sure is beautiful"
"Sandra. So lovely to see you again." Sandra and Margaret greeted each other with a hug. They then turned to Lily.
"See, flower, flooing isn't that bad. You are still in one piece are you not? That's what happens when there is no lamps next the fireplace.
"Come, come, Margaret, Lily. William and James are waiting in the lounge room"
Lily had once again turned blue from nerves. She somehow managed to walk beside Sandra and her gran into the cosy looking room.
"Lily! You're here"
Lily jumped at the sound of a man's voice, thankfully not falling over and landing on any cats this time. She recovered rather quickly, and looked at the man who had spoken. He was about 35 she guessed. He had brown hair, rather large eyebrows, and a welcoming smile. He spoke:
"James, say hello to your… god cousin? ... god grand sister? … God grandmother's granddaughter? ... God I don't know. James say hello to Lily."
Lily turned to James. He had brown hair too, but as it was extremely messy and covered his forehead, she couldn't tell how big his eyebrows were. He was wearing scruffed jeans, a faded superman shirt and old runners.
Superman? Oh my God. Really worried now.
Lily then realized she had been staring for quite a long time. She heavily blushed, then caught her reflexion in a mirror above a chest of drawers. She gasped! With a combination of nerves of blue, and blushes of red, she looked like she was turning purple!
"Forget about turning purple…" a voice that seemed to come from the mirror said. "You've already turned purple."
"Gregory! That was not a nice thing to say to Lily. Lily dear. I must apologise Gregory's behalf. He's finds guests rather amusing."
"Gregory?" Asked Lily softly, her curiosity getting the better of her nervous self
"Yes, Gregory" replied Sandra. "Gregory the Ghoul"
"Ghouls are very fascinating creatures you know Lily," added William. "They can read minds, live in places like mirrors and speak the human tongue."
"Yeah, I like Gregory;" James added "He's smart and funny. Always a good laugh. That was funny about you turning purple. Hey, Gregory was right. You do look purple"
"I am NOT purple!" Lily replied indignantly.
"Okaaaaaaaay" James answered
Lily took a deep breath and managed to calm herself
'Lily, you're starting at Hogwarts next year aren't you?"
"Yes Mrs Potter" Lily said sweetly. "I'm rather excited"
"And so you should be" Said William. "Wonderful school Hogwarts is. Went there myself in the good old days. James is off there next year too, but of cause to the boys campus."
This polite chatter continues for a while, Lily acting like a little angel to annoy James to pay him back for the 'purple' comment, and James looking very bored, patting a big golden retriever named Zach. Finally, Sandra announced that dinner was ready
"'Bout time" Muttered James, loud enough to be audible.
Secretly Lily felt the same way however, she would never say this aloud. The group made their way to a dining table, laden with food.
"James dear, you should know the Zach is not allowed at the dinner table. Zach! Mat!" Sandra commanded, pointing to the kitchen
A parsnip soup was served first; James looked at Lily, and rolled his eyes. She was sitting up daintily, spooning the soup away from herself. He remembered his mother tried to get him to do that, but he couldn't see the point in it. I mean, the whole point is to get the spoon in your mouth. What's the point of pushing it away from yourself?
'What a snobby little princess' He thought.
Lily glanced over at James a few minutes later, and saw he was slurping his soup I don't know how he can do that. This soup is gross. Lily was just moving her spoon in the bowl and occasionally lifting to up to her mouth, to look like she was eating it. And these chairs really hurt your back when you lean against them.
Next came a pasta dish with prawns and scallops. Lily didn't particularly like seafood, but so to not draw any attention to herself, she ate it without complaint.
"James Dear, why don't you try the prawns? Lily is eating hers."
'Yeah perfect Lily' James said under his breath and went back to picking out the prawns and eating the pasta
About forty minutes later, a Pavlova was served for desert. Lily liked Pavlovas, but didn't have then very often. James really loved Pavlova, and as this was his mother's speciality. As soon as the plate was placed in front of him, he grabbed his splade and began eating. He knew this is considered rude and all that, but food was meant for enjoyment, not to make an impression out of eating.
After dinner, the adults talked about old times, and Lily and James were both rather bored, though Lily did not dare let it show. After story after story of holidays either family took and random historical sites that they visited, Sandra took Lily's gran out side, to look at some wonderful herbs, which were meant to be very useful in simple medical potions. A few minutes later, William excused himself to go to the bathroom, and James and Lily were left alone in the lounge room.
James decided he might as well say something, to relieve himself of boredom.
"Do you have any pets?" He asked
Shyness overcame Lily again. God, I'm hopeless at meeting new people. She realized that James was waiting for an answer.
"Um. Yes. A cat"
It would be easier talking to a rock James decided "What's it called"
"Um…Felicia"
Why doesn't she at least try to talk to me? Suppose she doesn't think I'm worth her breath. Why was I stuck with such a snob?
A man entering the room broke the awkward silence. He was wearing a tam-o'-shanter, which is a tartan hat, and had red hair even brighter than Lily's.
"You're Lily, aren't you?" He spoke in a very Scottish accent.
"Um…yes"
"Have you seen my brother William, by any chance? I've just popped in to say hi."
"Um…I think he's in the bathroom"
"Thanks mate."
James was nearly falling off the couch trying not to laugh
"What!?" Lily snapped
"You'll see"
The Scottish man came back to the lounge "He's not there anymore"
"Um…Sorry" Lily apolagised
The man took of his hat; bring the red hair with him. "Thought you would've guessed Lily" He said grinning, having dropped the exaggerated accent
"I'm William"
"Good one Dad!" James gave his father a high-five
Lily did not say anything. In the state of shock in which she was in, she simply did not trust herself to open her mouth.
"Bye Lily dear" Sandra smothered her into a hug.
"Have a safe journey" William added
"Cheerio Lily! Hope Dads brother doesn't bother you on the way" James said, in an even more exgrazurated accent.
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As soon as Lily's gran stepped into the chimney, James sighed a sigh of relief. The night was over. His mum was still sing praises about Lily and his father was sobering up after the Scottish brother trick. James went to his room with Zach, grabbing Berkeley, the family owl on the way. He needed someone to talk to about the night. Of course, he couldn't talk to his parents; they loved Lily. He couldn't owl his friends, he was taught to read and write by his parents. He needed someone who would talkback, who wouldn't make him see sense. He decided to owl his cousin.
To Belle
This is James. Watch out at Hogwarts next year, there's this girl coming, her name's Lily or something like that. Mums godmother brought her to our place for dinner tonight. Arhhh. Pain, torture, suffering, dying slowly. No, wait dying quickly. But still painfully. She is such a snob! I think she's my age, but she acted like she was an adult of something. She even called Gregory stupid! You remember Gregory don't you? The ghoul who lives in our mirror? She is so annoying. Mum of cause absolutely loved her. Lily or whatever completely sucked up to her. It was so sickening. Dad played that trick on her, you know, the Scottish brother one. You fell for that one didn't you. It was so funny. She just needed that to knock her off her pedestal. You coming to stay with us sometime over summer? I hope so. Say hi to aunty Dori and Uncle Bruce for me. Anyway, have to go.
From James
PS Zach says woof
"Come Berkeley. Here take this to Belle. To Belle, Berkeley. Off you go" James tossed the owl out the window.
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Back in London, Lily walked out of her fireplace and up to her room. As she sat on her bed, patting Felicia, she thought of the night. Her first proper meeting of wizards and witches wasn't very special she thought. I wasn't impressed with James at all. His parents are ok I guess, but Sandra is a bit too 'dearish' for me, and William, well that trick was funny, I guess, but still. I knew him like 2 hours? Lily needed someone to talk to. Her parents were asleep, her gran would be disappointed, and she couldn't tell her friends without all the details, including the whole magic thing. Who to talk to? Her eyes fell on the letter her pen pal, Anna, had written. I know, I'll write to Anna!
Dear Anna
Hi! How are you! OK there is a reason for this letter. It's complicated, but to cut a long story short, I was meeting some friends of our family who I never knew existed and they have this son right, James. Well he is the most immature guy I've ever met! And that's saying a lot knowing some of the boys in my primary school. You're so lucky, being at high school. Well only one more month, but anyway. James. He insulted me, dressed so uncaringly, and over all just was annoying. Worse, my gran wants us to be friends, and I don't want to disappoint her. But I can't stand him! Sorry about this letter, but I really need to talk to someone. So write back soon, I love getting your letters
Love Lily
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Many many miles away, a girl named Annabelle walked out to her cow shaped mail to find the postman had in fact been. As she walked back to her house, she flipped through it. Bank Card bill and share report for Dad, a 'To the householder' Real-estate pamphlet, and one for her from her pen pal Lily. After placing her Father's mail on his desk, she went to open hers. Just as she unsealed the envelope, she heard a tapping on her bedroom window. She let the Tawny owl in and it saw it had a letter for her. When it rains, it pours! One of the big advantages of being half blood is that you can communicate with the muggle, and the magic world! The letter was from James, her cousin. After she read both of them, she smiled to herself
'I'm going to have some real fun with this!'
OK, so that was chapter number two! What did you think? Please review and tell me. PLEASE! I'm not sure when I'm going to have the next chapter up by, because I think I'm going to have heavy assessment for the next few weeks, then I go on this camp, 10 days out in the bush. But I've started writing chapter 3 and pretty much know the basic story idea as I had this really boring commerce excursion and had heaps of time to think. SO hopefully it won't be too long, that is, of course, if I get reviews! Just so, I know at least people are apreatating my work. So review, and chapter 3 will magically appear* OK I think that's all for now. Just if you have ideas how I could improve it, just tell me in a review!
*Magic may take up to 3 weeks to take affect.