Disclaimer: I own only what you do not know, the plot, and a few odds and bobbins; I don't think that I plan on making any money out this, and if I change my mind I'll tell you straight away so you can 'see me in court'. But I highly doubt that that will happen, cose, this is pretty pointless isn't it? I mean I'm just writing randomly in a DT lesson thinking that saying I don't own anything is just sooo boring and deciding to add a bit more and, I think I'll get on with the story.
Chapter 3 - A hat for all occasions
When the first year students arrived at the station, they all tumbled out, some were nervous, some were exited and some were just about ready to give up. Lily Evans was not quite sure how to feel. She looked around, they seemed to be at a station, not that she didn't already know that; but it was that type of station that seemed to make her want to look at it forever.
It had vending machines where you would put in some wizarding money, but instead of getting chocolate bars and chips out, you got what ever you asked for. Although there only seemed to be only one train track, she could see several witches and wizards hurrying off to somewhere else, she was not quite sure where, until she remembered her sister telling her about Hogsmeade, the only completely magic community in the whole of England. She couldn't wait until she went there.
She startled at the elbow that was pushed into her rib cage, turning abruptly around only to come face to face with Amy. She grinned and pointed off towards the exit where only the non-Hogwarts people were going, they both cracked identical evil grins before following the other first years over to a huge man.
On the train they had talked about there hobby's, ambitions, hopes for the future, how many kids they wanted to have, everything. They had also come across the rather mutual subject of pranks and so called 'fun' activities. The sound of sneaking out into the world of Hogsmeade appealed to both of them.
"I think we have to get into the boats Ams, they do look sort of rickety don't they? Scary!" Lily had stepped onto one of the boats, only to have to swing alarmingly underneath her, she quickly pulled her foot out and looked nervously over to Amy, who looked nervously right back at her.
"Do we really have to get in? I mean, can't we go in with the other students, they have to get to the school somehow and I really don't want to get into that boat, I really, really don't" Amy was looking petrified at the very thought of attempting such a feat. The both looked over at the small fleet of boats and shivered.
"It's not that bad, I mean, if we're careful they shouldn't tip" Lily sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as her friend, she had never been in a boat before, and while savouring the experience of new things, there were limits, and this little boat was just about to cross the borderline.
"It's leaking!"
She sighed, cross the border line indeed! It was a country or two away now. The two girls looked at each other.
"I AM NOT GETTING IN THAT THING! I WANT TO LIVE TO SEE MY TWELTH BIRHTDAY!" Amy's load scream was not quite what Lily was thinking as the best way to get out of the situation, and it wasn't, but it certainly got them some attention. The huge man looked over in there direction, confusion showing clearly on his face.
"An' why, may I ask, not?" he was stomping towards the short eleven years with a rather scary (or so it seemed to them) look on his face "you two bet'er get on that boat right now or else - " he didn't have to finish, Lily and Amy had virtually dived into the boat in an attempt to hide from the towering man. He glared at them, before noticing that two others were rolling on the floor in laughter, he frowned at them too.
"Ok! Ok! In the boat you get!" he walked over to them and grabbed both of them, virtually flinging them into the small boat, which wobbled precariously as the two boys jumped up.
"Oi! Mister! Don't you ever do that to us again!"
"Yeah! Do you know who we are? If we told our fathers about the treatment we're receiving from you he could most likely have you fired for throwing, and I repeat, THROWING, us into a boat!"
There was a pause.
"Could 'e really? That's astonishing! Now come on and lets go!" as soon as the word 'go' was out of his mouth they found themselves rocketing along across the large lake, the two boys (our very own James Potter and Sirius Black *duh*) fell down with a laud crash.
(A/N: By the way, just thought I'd mention this and all but if this chapter is a little weird, just put it down to the fact that I just had three glasses of creaming soda and it's a Friday and I have the whole weekend to write, read, watch TV and am I rambling again? Well anywayz, sozzy! ^_^)
Lily couldn't help but laugh at the looks on both boys faces, although she herself was not really all that happy with the boats and the fact that they had to share them with the 'beings' (if she had to refer to them at all she may as well be flattering), but the sight of the two of them, grumbling as they brushed water of their cloaks and looking thoroughly unhappy only served to cheer her up more. They same was true with Amy.
"What are you two looking at?" James did not sound happy at all. Both Lily and Amy smirked at the eleven year old boy and his partner in crime before bursting out laughing again. Both Sirius and James looked completely non-plus, well that changed soon enough.
"You two look so stupid! Oh my god only a complete idiot would shout at a man almost four times his height! And when he threw you in! Oh my god you should have seen the look on your pathetic little faces!" Lily threw in as many insults as she could, leaving some for Amy. Sirius's and James's faces clouded over.
"You stood up and you're like 'do whatever we tell you to do inferior being or else we shall set our fathers on you' I bet your fathers would approve of the big guys behaviour, their both supposed to be top Auroa's or something aren't they? I bet they approve of you getting chucked in here! Might teach you some manners!"
"SHUT UP! I SWEAR I AM SO ANNOYED AT YOU I MIGHT JUST - " he was interrupted by Lily, who was looking behind him with a look of pure rapture covering her features, Amy too looked similarly effected, he stopped and turned.
Hogwarts was huge; it's many turrets, towers, gargoyles and arches seemed to create a dreamlike effect on the students, all of them stared at their new school, mouths touching the ground. The witches and wizards that came from muggle families especially were amazed by both the sheer size of the castle and the atmosphere it created.
For a few seconds all of the students were silent, but then a babble of talk broke out among them and many 'ooohh's and 'aahhh's could be heard, Lily herself heard the giant man give a small chuckle. She felt like laughing too, it was so amazing, so big, so mystical, so mysterious, so everything, it was as if, after many years of searching, she had finally arrived home.
A small sigh escaped her lips as she looked at the castle, imagine all the secret passages waiting to be explored, corridors that people might not have walked along for a hundred years, secret rooms waiting to be unlocked, items to discover, monsters even? She could hardly imagine the fun that she and Amy could have, hardly imagine.
"Its. . . beautiful! We're actually going to live there? I haven't even been inside and I don't ever want to leave!" she stopped and looked at Hogwarts longingly "the boats are so slow! When are we going to get there already?" no sooner had the words left her mouth as a faint scraping sound could be heard from underneath the boat and it gave a sudden jerk.
They all clambered out of the boats, tripping and stumbling, most still looking at the gigantic castle that was overshadowing them so they felt like an ant next the Eiffel tower.
"It's amazing!" Amy was staring at the castle much as Lily had been seconds before falling flat on her face. She nodded, shaking the dirt off her robes.
"We're really going to live there? It looks like a fairy tale with all the windows bright against the dark walls dotted around like fireflies, it's so, well, cool!" Lily was almost bouncing up and down with excitement "we're really going to be living there!" she couldn't help but repeat the phrase as she continued to look at the glittering castle.
"Oh my god really?" the sarcastic voice of James Potter cut through her like a knife, completely pushing any trace of happiness from her body. She snarled at him and for a moment her looked taken aback before grinning at her in (what he imagined as) a leering smirk.
She snarled again, angry at him for ruining the mood of wonder that had been pulsating through her at the mere sight of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. He shrugged and turned to talk to Sirius.
"Don't let him bother you, you've barely known him for a day and already you look capable of murder! He's not worth anger, you'll just make him happy to know that he's working on you! I have a plan! What we can do is follow them around, wherever they go, we can follow them, discover all the secret hidden passages they do, all of that, plus try and make a few discoveries of our own, we can tell people about what they plan on doing if they're getting a prank together, it would kill them!" she smiled triumphantly at the very thought of James and Sirius so upset, and Lily, in all her virtuousness couldn't help but grin along with her.
"Sounds like fun!"
~*~
The first years walked into the hall next to their chosen partner, Aurora couldn't help smiling when she saw Lily and the girl from the train talking together and shooting malice filled glances towards the two people at the very end, she looked back and could only just swallow a laugh as she saw a very angry James Potter and Sirius Black.
She looked over to the Ravenclaw table, catching Sarah's eye she pointed to her sister and the two boys at the back, Sarah grinned back at her and mouthed 'I feel sorry for the your boyfriends brother!' Aurora grinned and rolled her eyes at her friend before replying 'I hope she gets into Gryffindor!' Sarah shook her head sadly 'not a chance! She is so coming to Ravenclaw!' Aurora looked mutinous 'NO WAY!'
'Ravenclaw is so better than Slytherin!'
'She is not getting into Ravenclaw! She is so a Gryffindor!'
'Deluded you are! She has all the Ravenclaw thingo's!'
'Does not! More like all the Gryffindor ones!'
'Whatever! The sorting is about to start and we can settle this once and for all!' the mock glared at each other before bursting out laughing much to the uneasiness of the people sitting around them on the table.
Professor McGonagall peered at all of the first year students before walking to the side of the hall and carrying a stool with a hat placed on it, most of the first years looked confused and a few reassured, there was a collective humorous murmuring around the hall at the looks on the first years faces. Aurora grinned.
"First years you will place the sorting hat on your heads when I call your name" she paused and allowed herself a small smile at the students.
"Avery, Mark"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Carlton, Anita"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Cormic, Zack"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Deman, Ashley"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Evans, Lily"
Lily, quivering from head to toe walked up onto the stage, sat down on the stool, and placed the hat gingerly on her head. She almost squealed in fright when the hat started speaking.
'Ahh, another Evans, nice to meet you I'm sure, yes, yes, well where to put you eh? Where would you go best? Plenty of courage, yes, so much courage, intelligence, very intelligent, yes very smart indeed! Loyalty? Yes plenty of loyalty, but not so happy with working, a Slytherin trait, hmm, not Hufflepuff, no defiantly not, whats left now? Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Slytherin? Well lets see, Slytherin, yes just so, a thirst to prove yourself, you remind me of someone. . . yes, yes, but it won't overpower your sense, well maybe, Ravenclaw? No, I don't think so, no, not Ravenclaw, no, yes Slytherin is good, would you like me to put you in Slytherin?'
'No! Please! Put in Gryffindor with Aurora! Please!'
'Not Slytherin? Yes, ok, I understand, but maybe it would be - '
'NO! Please no!'
'Fine, fine, then I've made my choice! GRYFFINDOR!'
She could hear the cheers coming from the red and gold table that he sister was sitting at, she could see the smiling faces of the people sitting at the table, she could sense the smiles of a few teachers behind her and she could feel the relief as it washed through her, but somehow it just didn't feel right, somehow it was wrong. She shook her head, and for a second her vision blurred, what was going on?
Suddenly she was no longer sitting on the stool, or at least, she couldn't feel it underneath her. She opened her eyes and could clearly see the people at the Gryffindor table cheering, 'We got Potter! We got Potter!' it was so laud! She could hear it so clearly! It seemed to be revibrating through her brain, through every brain cell, through every nerve tendon, through everything, and it hurt. She shook her head again, had James Potter already been sorted? She couldn't remember.
She closed her eyes again, hoping against any reasonable hope that when she opened again it would have stopped, the strange wringing in her head, the odd screaming that seemed to come from all around her, the happiness on everyone's faces. She closed her eyes, only to open them to utter silence. Every one in the hall was looking at her, every pair of eyes were focused on her, she gulped nervously and took the hat off, but it was no longer there. She looked around frantically and found it sitting a few paces away from her, placing it on the stool she tried to flee down to the Gryffindor house table. But failed. As soon as she stood up she felt her legs going out of control, they trembled and she sat down with a sickening thump. A small whimper escaped her lips.
What was happening?
"Lily! Lily are you ok?" she looked up into the confused eyes of Aurora Evans, and shook her head feebly. Aurora looked horrified. She leant down and gave Lily a crushing hug, Lily smiled, resting her head on her elder sister's shoulder.
"What happened Rory? Why were they shouting Potter?" Aurora Evans looked at her oddly, and shook her head at Lily.
"They weren't shouting Potter" Lily's eyes snapped open and she looked around her, expecting to see the red heads who had been shouting it, but she didn't see anyone who looked like the boys she had seen. She took a deep breath.
"Oh, well then, I must have just imagined it" but she knew she hadn't. It seemed Aurora did too.
"What did you see Lily? It might be important"
"Everyone was sitting down at the table, but, they were all different people than they are now, some people at the Gryffindor table were cheering, they were saying 'we got potter' over and over again, but, the boy wasn't potter." she paused and looked up into her sister's eyes again "well, at least not James Potter, he had green eyes, just like yours. . . and mine."
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A/N: Sorry this is such a short chapter, but I just thought that this was such a wonderful place to stop! Can anybody guess who our mystery boy is! Well duh! Of course you can! If you don't like this then please tell me and I can change it, I personally think that it may just be a little weird, ok, a lot weird, but all the same!
Thankyou to my wonderful reviewers, all of that 'you are my motivation and the only thing that gets me through the day' stuff, special thanks to you all
REVIEW! I may only put up the next chapter if I have enough good feedback! Toodles!
Imaginable ^_^