THE RAIN ALWAYS FALLS
Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. The goddess JK Rowling does. Morgan Fay and Carmen Willows are mine, however.
It's a little longer than the others, but I hope you like it! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!
This chapter is dedicated to everyone who reads my story! Particularly sparkly purple dotz, AnieRose, and Gabrielle. Thanks.
Chapter 3: On Platform 9 ¾
Lily and Morgan arrived at King Cross station at ten forty. They soon found an empty compartment at the back of the train. After lugging their trunks into the compartment, they sank into their seats, breathing heavily.
"Remind - me - to exercise -more," Morgan ordered Lily.
"Come on. You play quiditch. You are a lot more active than me," she told her slumping back. It was true. She was the only one of the three girls who played for their house team.
"That reminds me," Morgan said as she took her Shooting Star out of her trunk and began polishing it. "I need to make it look decent for the first match," she said when she saw the exasperated look on Lily's face. "So, what did you do this summer - before you came over to my house?"
"My parents took me to France, actually," she told her. "It was so beautiful. You should have seen it. There was even a small wizarding village in Nice (A/N: That's in the south of France for those of you who didn't know) that we went to. I bought my dress robes there." She reached into her own trunk and pulled out stunning robes of green with gold stitching at the hems.
"Oh, Lily," Morgan said sweetly. "They bring out your eyes so! Let's just hope there's a ball this year." The past few years, all possible balls have been canceled due to Peeves the poltergeist playing tricks, or werewolves invading the Great Hall, or any other reason no one would expect. "So, what else did you do?" she asked now polishing the handle.
"Well, when we went to look at owls, my sister practically threw a fit. She doesn't seem to like the fact that I'm a witch. I care for her so much, but.I don't know." She sighed. Morgan kind of felt bad for her. Lily was one of the sweetest people that she knew.
There was suddenly a knock on the door. They both looked up.
"Oh, sorry. I thought this compartment was empty." A very handsome face appeared behind the door.
"Andrew," Lily said jumping up and tossing her dress robes aside. "How are you? I haven't seen you for ages."
"Lily," the Ravenclaw said smiling. "How are you? Did you have a good summer?"
"Yeah, it was OK. How about you?"
"It just got better," he replied.
'Oh, God,' Morgan thought. 'She better not fall for that one.' But Lily smiled and looked down.
"Well, I better get going. ('Thank God,' Morgan said to herself.) See you at school?" he asked.
"Definitely," Lily answered as Andrew walked out and closed the compartment door. She turned to find Morgan looking at her with the familiar 'how-could-you-ever-fall-for-that' look plastered on her face. "What?"
"Nothing." She stood up. "I'm going out for some air."
As James, Sirius, and Remus crossed through the barrier onto Platform 9 ¾, they saw many faces that they recognized. Sirius and James were quite popular, so they waved to a few people here and there.
"I'm going to look for the girls," Remus told them as James smiled merrily at a Gryffindor 4th year. Remus easily gets tiered of the Potter and Black Fan Club.
"OK," Sirius replied. "Just don't fall in love on your way there." He nudged Remus with his elbow, smiled, and went to talk to some other friends.
"Sure, Padfoot. That would really happen. Especially to - " not looking where he was going, he ran flat into someone. He managed to stay on his feet, but the girl had fallen. "Morgan!" he said recognizing her at once. "I'm sorry. Are you all right?" He lent out his hand to her.
"Yes," she said gratefully taking it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't look where I was going. How are you?"
"I'm fine, Remus, and don't worry. It happens all the time. Are you coming back to the compartment now?" she asked.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'll be there in a minute. In the back again?"
"As always," she answered. "See you there." She smiled weakly and turned away. As she was walking down the side of the train, a Slytherin 6th year whistled at her. She turned to him, glared, flicked her hair, and continued walking.
"Jerk," Remus muttered.
When Remus left, James strolled over to two Ravenclaw 5th years. They were both very pretty, Sirius noticed. He walked down the sidewalk, looking for anyone worth talking to. A Slytherin girl who had bright blond hair almost casually walked over to him. He knew who she was right away. They had dated the year before, but he didn't think that it was working out, so they 'mutually' decided to break up.
"Hey, Sirius," she said.
"Er, Sally. Long time no see," he said.
"So, how was your summer?" she asked, flipping her hair.
"Good, how 'bout you?"
"Fabulous. I went to Ireland. I wish you would have come with me. We could have had a grand time."
"Sally, you know that I have.er.stuff to do here. I just don't have the time." He sighed. "Excuse me, but I really need to go. I'm meeting someone here." With that he left leaving Sally alone.
Meanwhile, James was merrily chatting with Elizabeth and Natalie, the two Ravenclaws.
"So then, in the quiditch finals in my second year, I scored no less than thirty-two goals," he told them proudly. "That game went on for eight hours."
"I do hope that you can beat Slytherin again this year for the quiditch cup," Elizabeth told him.
"I don't know," Natalie said before James could. "Ravenclaw is getting together a pretty good team this year. I'm keeper. We should be a match for Gryffindor."
"I can't wait." He smiled. Natalie smiled back. 'She's so perfect,' he thought. 'She's smart and is great on a broomstick.' "Well, you'll have to excuse me ladies," he said seeing Sirius beckoning him behind the girls, "but I must be going. I'll see you later, Natalie?" She nodded, and as he left, he saw her giggling madly with Elizabeth.
"What's up?" he asked as he reached Sirius. "I was talking with Natalie."
"Yeah, I can see that. The train leaves in five minutes, in case you didn't know. I thought that we should probably find Remus and the others unless we want another incident like last year. I mean, missing the train and flying a stray phoenix to school was all well enough, but we lost 70 points from Gryffindor."
"Oh, I don't know, Padfoot. I was hoping to ride a dragon this time." He laughed as they made their way to the back of the train.
Carmen ran through the barrier that led to the platform ten minutes before the train was scheduled to leave. There was a lot more traffic than she expected on the car ride over, and she still had to find her friends. She dropped off her trunk near the luggage compartment holding the remaining books that didn't fit in her trunk. Looking through the windows for any sign of her friends, she stumbled over a lose brick on the floor. She managed to keep herself upright, but her books tumbled out of her hands. As she bent down to gather them, someone spoke.
"Here, let me help you." She looked up and saw a pair of gray eyes looking into hers. "I'm Lucius. Lucius Malfoy, by the way. Your Camren, right?"
"Carmen," she told him collecting her books. She knew Lucius. He was rather cute and was also very good at potions. They were the top two in their class.
"Oh, right. You're the smart one in my potions class. I've never seen anyone as gifted as you."
"Thanks," she said blushing and pushing her bushy hair out of her face. They both got to their feet.
"So, I'll see you in the first potions class?"
"Sure."
They turned and walked away, both of them smiling. However, one face looked more menacing than the other.
One by one (except in James and Sirius' case), the five other friends strolled into the compartment; Lily was waiting for them. They casually greeted each other with a nod or slap on the back here and there. Morgan was the last to enter, about twenty seconds before the train left the station.
"Morgan!" Sirius leapt up. "How kind of you to grace us with your presence," he said bowing deeply. She gently pushed him backwards onto his seat.
"So," James said, getting between them, "you ready for another exciting quiditch year?" Morgan and James were both chasers for the Gryffindor team. Everyone in the compartment was in the same house, by the way, but only the two played quiditch.
"Of course," she replied, waving a hand. "This is going to be our best year ever. Most of the Slytherin players graduated last year." This was a surprise because all of them were failing several classes.
"And you too are the best chasers Gryffindor's ever had. Better than Wood and Longbottom," Lily chimed in. Wood and Longbottom let Gryffindor to victory several times, but they graduated two years ago.
Just then, the kind lady with the food trolley arrived outside their compartment. James ordered Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and Cauldron Cakes all around, everyone very grateful. They soon began chatting away without a care in the world, and then -
"Carmen," she looked up as Sirius spoke. "Who was that you were talking to before the train left? Isn't he a Slytherin?" The room went quiet.
"I - I think so - but not that it really matters," she muttered. "It was Lucius Malfoy."
"Carmen!" James and Sirius yelled at once. Remus, Morgan and Lily seemed too shocked to speak. Comments like, "He's a Slytherin!" "Not just any Slytherin. He's on their quiditch team!" "We're playing them in November!" and "Oh, I don't know, Carmen. I've heard terrible things about him," began echoing around the room.
"Stop. Stop!" she yelled. "All he did was help me pick up my books. It's not like we're dating. If we ever were, which we NEVER (!!!) will," she added seeing their terrified faces, "I give you full permission to scream your heads off at me. OK?" She finished looking winded, yet she wore an exasperated smile on her face. "Besides, wasn't it you, Sirius, who was actually dating a Slytherin last year?" She nodded to him.
Sirius bent his head and mumbled something that sounded like, "That's not the point."
"You know, Carmen, we're just looking out for you," Lily kindly told her.
"Harriet Ball told me what he did to her friend, Katherine. He asked her to one of the balls, and she got really excited and everything because he was - umm - 'so cute,' I think were HER words - and he showed up there with that Slytherin girl, Violet, and told her he never would dream of asking her. She cried for days." Morgan continued.
"I'm not interested in dating him, alright? I've more important things to worry about. I'm a prefect this year and that should use up most of my free time," she told them.
"Alright, you just don't want to go hanging out with scum like him - that's what you've got us for!" As everyone laughed with Sirius, the conversation was dropped.
Several hours and earwax flavored beans later, someone knocked on their door. Andrew opened it and said, "Just thought I'd let you lot know, we're going to pull up to Hogsmead Station in twenty minutes." He turned to Lily. "Oh, by the way," he nodded to her, "could you meet me in the entrance hall after the sorting?"
"Sure," she said turning almost as red as her hair.
"Great. Well, bye then." The door closed behind him.
"And what was that?" James asked her seriously.
"Oh, that was probably her new boyfriend - from a different house," Carmen added scathingly. However, no one but her, Morgan and James seemed too concerned about this. No one said anything more on the subject. They all knew that Andrew was nice.
"Can you three leave the compartment for a moment, please?" Lily asked the boys when the heat died down. "We do need to change into our robes."
Morgan looked down at her muggle clothes. "I don't think they would let us in wearing this."
As the boy exited, there was silence in the compartment. All three of them got out their black uniforms. Morgan hated the awkward silence. "Carmen, I'm sorry about what I said about Lucius. He seems nice. You can like him if you like."
"It's fine," she said waving a hand and smiling. "I don't like him that way anyway. I told you, I have more important stuff to worry about." Turning to Lily, she said "And Lily, sorry about what I said before about Andrew."
"Oh, don't worry about it. As you said, you have enough problems." She smiled and laughed a little. As she was straightening the bottom of her robes, she looked up and said, "Have you ever noticed that our fights never last longer than three hours?"
They all laughed. "Well, I guess that's how good of friends we are," Morgan replied.
"Girls, are you done yet?" Remus asked from the other side of the door.
"Yes," Lily said opening it.
"Could we get changed now?" James asked.
"Be my guest," Morgan told him as the girls exited.
"So what's up with you and Sally?" Remus asked pulling off his shirt when the door closed again.
"That's been over for months," he said, "but she's still following me around."
"Oh, maybe she misses her 'snuggle bunny,'" James said with a laugh. "Isn't that what she used to call you?"
"You say one more word, Prongs, and I'll give you a black eye," he answered.
"So," said James, giving up on that topic, "Who's going to be your next victim, I - I mean girlfriend? Hmm?"
"I think I'm flying solo this year."
"You know, I think that Carmen might like you," Remus spoke up.
"Carmen? No way! She's a prefect! Do you know how many points I'd lose every day from her if I dated her? Never gonna happen. By the way, Moony, who do you like?"
Remus turned away from them. He knew who he liked. He's known for a year now. He just wasn't ready to admit to anyone who it was. "No one," he answered simply. "So, finish telling me about the World Cup."
When Lily, Morgan and Carmen entered the compartment once again, the train was pulling to a halt. The six of them walked out into the cold night air. Hundreds of horseless carriages were waiting to bring them up to the castle. They all squeezed into one together, despite the rules of four to a carriage; Carmen promised she wouldn't tell. All at once, they leaned their heads out of the small windows to catch a glimpse of the towering castle, just coming into view.
~Thanks everyone! I hope you like it! Lots of Love, Carmen Willows
Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. The goddess JK Rowling does. Morgan Fay and Carmen Willows are mine, however.
It's a little longer than the others, but I hope you like it! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!
This chapter is dedicated to everyone who reads my story! Particularly sparkly purple dotz, AnieRose, and Gabrielle. Thanks.
Chapter 3: On Platform 9 ¾
Lily and Morgan arrived at King Cross station at ten forty. They soon found an empty compartment at the back of the train. After lugging their trunks into the compartment, they sank into their seats, breathing heavily.
"Remind - me - to exercise -more," Morgan ordered Lily.
"Come on. You play quiditch. You are a lot more active than me," she told her slumping back. It was true. She was the only one of the three girls who played for their house team.
"That reminds me," Morgan said as she took her Shooting Star out of her trunk and began polishing it. "I need to make it look decent for the first match," she said when she saw the exasperated look on Lily's face. "So, what did you do this summer - before you came over to my house?"
"My parents took me to France, actually," she told her. "It was so beautiful. You should have seen it. There was even a small wizarding village in Nice (A/N: That's in the south of France for those of you who didn't know) that we went to. I bought my dress robes there." She reached into her own trunk and pulled out stunning robes of green with gold stitching at the hems.
"Oh, Lily," Morgan said sweetly. "They bring out your eyes so! Let's just hope there's a ball this year." The past few years, all possible balls have been canceled due to Peeves the poltergeist playing tricks, or werewolves invading the Great Hall, or any other reason no one would expect. "So, what else did you do?" she asked now polishing the handle.
"Well, when we went to look at owls, my sister practically threw a fit. She doesn't seem to like the fact that I'm a witch. I care for her so much, but.I don't know." She sighed. Morgan kind of felt bad for her. Lily was one of the sweetest people that she knew.
There was suddenly a knock on the door. They both looked up.
"Oh, sorry. I thought this compartment was empty." A very handsome face appeared behind the door.
"Andrew," Lily said jumping up and tossing her dress robes aside. "How are you? I haven't seen you for ages."
"Lily," the Ravenclaw said smiling. "How are you? Did you have a good summer?"
"Yeah, it was OK. How about you?"
"It just got better," he replied.
'Oh, God,' Morgan thought. 'She better not fall for that one.' But Lily smiled and looked down.
"Well, I better get going. ('Thank God,' Morgan said to herself.) See you at school?" he asked.
"Definitely," Lily answered as Andrew walked out and closed the compartment door. She turned to find Morgan looking at her with the familiar 'how-could-you-ever-fall-for-that' look plastered on her face. "What?"
"Nothing." She stood up. "I'm going out for some air."
As James, Sirius, and Remus crossed through the barrier onto Platform 9 ¾, they saw many faces that they recognized. Sirius and James were quite popular, so they waved to a few people here and there.
"I'm going to look for the girls," Remus told them as James smiled merrily at a Gryffindor 4th year. Remus easily gets tiered of the Potter and Black Fan Club.
"OK," Sirius replied. "Just don't fall in love on your way there." He nudged Remus with his elbow, smiled, and went to talk to some other friends.
"Sure, Padfoot. That would really happen. Especially to - " not looking where he was going, he ran flat into someone. He managed to stay on his feet, but the girl had fallen. "Morgan!" he said recognizing her at once. "I'm sorry. Are you all right?" He lent out his hand to her.
"Yes," she said gratefully taking it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't look where I was going. How are you?"
"I'm fine, Remus, and don't worry. It happens all the time. Are you coming back to the compartment now?" she asked.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'll be there in a minute. In the back again?"
"As always," she answered. "See you there." She smiled weakly and turned away. As she was walking down the side of the train, a Slytherin 6th year whistled at her. She turned to him, glared, flicked her hair, and continued walking.
"Jerk," Remus muttered.
When Remus left, James strolled over to two Ravenclaw 5th years. They were both very pretty, Sirius noticed. He walked down the sidewalk, looking for anyone worth talking to. A Slytherin girl who had bright blond hair almost casually walked over to him. He knew who she was right away. They had dated the year before, but he didn't think that it was working out, so they 'mutually' decided to break up.
"Hey, Sirius," she said.
"Er, Sally. Long time no see," he said.
"So, how was your summer?" she asked, flipping her hair.
"Good, how 'bout you?"
"Fabulous. I went to Ireland. I wish you would have come with me. We could have had a grand time."
"Sally, you know that I have.er.stuff to do here. I just don't have the time." He sighed. "Excuse me, but I really need to go. I'm meeting someone here." With that he left leaving Sally alone.
Meanwhile, James was merrily chatting with Elizabeth and Natalie, the two Ravenclaws.
"So then, in the quiditch finals in my second year, I scored no less than thirty-two goals," he told them proudly. "That game went on for eight hours."
"I do hope that you can beat Slytherin again this year for the quiditch cup," Elizabeth told him.
"I don't know," Natalie said before James could. "Ravenclaw is getting together a pretty good team this year. I'm keeper. We should be a match for Gryffindor."
"I can't wait." He smiled. Natalie smiled back. 'She's so perfect,' he thought. 'She's smart and is great on a broomstick.' "Well, you'll have to excuse me ladies," he said seeing Sirius beckoning him behind the girls, "but I must be going. I'll see you later, Natalie?" She nodded, and as he left, he saw her giggling madly with Elizabeth.
"What's up?" he asked as he reached Sirius. "I was talking with Natalie."
"Yeah, I can see that. The train leaves in five minutes, in case you didn't know. I thought that we should probably find Remus and the others unless we want another incident like last year. I mean, missing the train and flying a stray phoenix to school was all well enough, but we lost 70 points from Gryffindor."
"Oh, I don't know, Padfoot. I was hoping to ride a dragon this time." He laughed as they made their way to the back of the train.
Carmen ran through the barrier that led to the platform ten minutes before the train was scheduled to leave. There was a lot more traffic than she expected on the car ride over, and she still had to find her friends. She dropped off her trunk near the luggage compartment holding the remaining books that didn't fit in her trunk. Looking through the windows for any sign of her friends, she stumbled over a lose brick on the floor. She managed to keep herself upright, but her books tumbled out of her hands. As she bent down to gather them, someone spoke.
"Here, let me help you." She looked up and saw a pair of gray eyes looking into hers. "I'm Lucius. Lucius Malfoy, by the way. Your Camren, right?"
"Carmen," she told him collecting her books. She knew Lucius. He was rather cute and was also very good at potions. They were the top two in their class.
"Oh, right. You're the smart one in my potions class. I've never seen anyone as gifted as you."
"Thanks," she said blushing and pushing her bushy hair out of her face. They both got to their feet.
"So, I'll see you in the first potions class?"
"Sure."
They turned and walked away, both of them smiling. However, one face looked more menacing than the other.
One by one (except in James and Sirius' case), the five other friends strolled into the compartment; Lily was waiting for them. They casually greeted each other with a nod or slap on the back here and there. Morgan was the last to enter, about twenty seconds before the train left the station.
"Morgan!" Sirius leapt up. "How kind of you to grace us with your presence," he said bowing deeply. She gently pushed him backwards onto his seat.
"So," James said, getting between them, "you ready for another exciting quiditch year?" Morgan and James were both chasers for the Gryffindor team. Everyone in the compartment was in the same house, by the way, but only the two played quiditch.
"Of course," she replied, waving a hand. "This is going to be our best year ever. Most of the Slytherin players graduated last year." This was a surprise because all of them were failing several classes.
"And you too are the best chasers Gryffindor's ever had. Better than Wood and Longbottom," Lily chimed in. Wood and Longbottom let Gryffindor to victory several times, but they graduated two years ago.
Just then, the kind lady with the food trolley arrived outside their compartment. James ordered Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and Cauldron Cakes all around, everyone very grateful. They soon began chatting away without a care in the world, and then -
"Carmen," she looked up as Sirius spoke. "Who was that you were talking to before the train left? Isn't he a Slytherin?" The room went quiet.
"I - I think so - but not that it really matters," she muttered. "It was Lucius Malfoy."
"Carmen!" James and Sirius yelled at once. Remus, Morgan and Lily seemed too shocked to speak. Comments like, "He's a Slytherin!" "Not just any Slytherin. He's on their quiditch team!" "We're playing them in November!" and "Oh, I don't know, Carmen. I've heard terrible things about him," began echoing around the room.
"Stop. Stop!" she yelled. "All he did was help me pick up my books. It's not like we're dating. If we ever were, which we NEVER (!!!) will," she added seeing their terrified faces, "I give you full permission to scream your heads off at me. OK?" She finished looking winded, yet she wore an exasperated smile on her face. "Besides, wasn't it you, Sirius, who was actually dating a Slytherin last year?" She nodded to him.
Sirius bent his head and mumbled something that sounded like, "That's not the point."
"You know, Carmen, we're just looking out for you," Lily kindly told her.
"Harriet Ball told me what he did to her friend, Katherine. He asked her to one of the balls, and she got really excited and everything because he was - umm - 'so cute,' I think were HER words - and he showed up there with that Slytherin girl, Violet, and told her he never would dream of asking her. She cried for days." Morgan continued.
"I'm not interested in dating him, alright? I've more important things to worry about. I'm a prefect this year and that should use up most of my free time," she told them.
"Alright, you just don't want to go hanging out with scum like him - that's what you've got us for!" As everyone laughed with Sirius, the conversation was dropped.
Several hours and earwax flavored beans later, someone knocked on their door. Andrew opened it and said, "Just thought I'd let you lot know, we're going to pull up to Hogsmead Station in twenty minutes." He turned to Lily. "Oh, by the way," he nodded to her, "could you meet me in the entrance hall after the sorting?"
"Sure," she said turning almost as red as her hair.
"Great. Well, bye then." The door closed behind him.
"And what was that?" James asked her seriously.
"Oh, that was probably her new boyfriend - from a different house," Carmen added scathingly. However, no one but her, Morgan and James seemed too concerned about this. No one said anything more on the subject. They all knew that Andrew was nice.
"Can you three leave the compartment for a moment, please?" Lily asked the boys when the heat died down. "We do need to change into our robes."
Morgan looked down at her muggle clothes. "I don't think they would let us in wearing this."
As the boy exited, there was silence in the compartment. All three of them got out their black uniforms. Morgan hated the awkward silence. "Carmen, I'm sorry about what I said about Lucius. He seems nice. You can like him if you like."
"It's fine," she said waving a hand and smiling. "I don't like him that way anyway. I told you, I have more important stuff to worry about." Turning to Lily, she said "And Lily, sorry about what I said before about Andrew."
"Oh, don't worry about it. As you said, you have enough problems." She smiled and laughed a little. As she was straightening the bottom of her robes, she looked up and said, "Have you ever noticed that our fights never last longer than three hours?"
They all laughed. "Well, I guess that's how good of friends we are," Morgan replied.
"Girls, are you done yet?" Remus asked from the other side of the door.
"Yes," Lily said opening it.
"Could we get changed now?" James asked.
"Be my guest," Morgan told him as the girls exited.
"So what's up with you and Sally?" Remus asked pulling off his shirt when the door closed again.
"That's been over for months," he said, "but she's still following me around."
"Oh, maybe she misses her 'snuggle bunny,'" James said with a laugh. "Isn't that what she used to call you?"
"You say one more word, Prongs, and I'll give you a black eye," he answered.
"So," said James, giving up on that topic, "Who's going to be your next victim, I - I mean girlfriend? Hmm?"
"I think I'm flying solo this year."
"You know, I think that Carmen might like you," Remus spoke up.
"Carmen? No way! She's a prefect! Do you know how many points I'd lose every day from her if I dated her? Never gonna happen. By the way, Moony, who do you like?"
Remus turned away from them. He knew who he liked. He's known for a year now. He just wasn't ready to admit to anyone who it was. "No one," he answered simply. "So, finish telling me about the World Cup."
When Lily, Morgan and Carmen entered the compartment once again, the train was pulling to a halt. The six of them walked out into the cold night air. Hundreds of horseless carriages were waiting to bring them up to the castle. They all squeezed into one together, despite the rules of four to a carriage; Carmen promised she wouldn't tell. All at once, they leaned their heads out of the small windows to catch a glimpse of the towering castle, just coming into view.
~Thanks everyone! I hope you like it! Lots of Love, Carmen Willows