Chapter 3 ~ A Welcoming Ride
WHOO WHOO!!! "ALL ABOARD! LAST CALL FOR THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS! ALL ABOARD!!"
It was the morning of September 1st, 11:30AM to be exact and Lily was running frantically all over the train...(ok...maybe not running. It's hard to run in a train. More like 'briskily walking')
"Argh! Where is he! He told me he'd meet me on here! I am NOT going to be the only on to get in trouble for this prank if I get caught! Argh!" She was 'briskily walking' down the whole train, opening the door to every single compartment. "James Potter..." She said to herself through gritted teeth. "When I find you...I'm going to wring your neck!" The minutes that wore on brought constant disappointment. The train seemed to be miles long when she finally reached the end. There was one door left and she felt like a complete idiot when she opened the 143rd door.
"Hey Lily! It's about time! I thought I'd have to come look for you! Sit down and have something to eat!" James gestured towards the floor which was completely covered in every type of candy imaginable. In fact, Lily couldn't even see the floor!
"James Potter!! I've searched every compartment on this whole darn train! You WOULD be in the very last one!"
"Well...yeah! You don't expect me to sit near the front where the conductor can watch me 24/7 do you?"
"No, I guess not...He'd probably kick right off the train if he saw this mess!!"
"Whoa! Calm down girl! You had better be in a good mood when we get our revenge on Glenn!"
"Well James, you're very lucky my tantrums don't last long because only 10 minutes ago, I was daydreaming about how much fun it would be to wring your scrawny little neck."
"Yes, for that I am thankful! I'd hate to be on your bad side. That's practically unintentional suicide! I pity Glenn for being against you," An evil, yet somehow cute gleam came into his eyes. "But I'm going to pity him a million times more once this prank is over!"
Suddenly, 2 boys that Lily had been totally unaware of until now, jerked their heads up. One had nice brownish-blond hair and chocolate eyes while the other had untidy black hair like James and beautiful blue eyes. This one had his mouth stuffed with Laura's Looney Licorice and said "PRANK!?! James! You're doing a prank! Spill it!" He demanded.
"Ok! Hold your horses Sirius!"
Sirius looks up, thinking seriously. "Umm...as you should know James, I don't have horses! How can I hold them?"
"Smart Alec... Anyway... I want to introduce you both to Lily."
"Hello! I'm Lily Evans! I assume that you're Sirius and Remus, correct?"
"Remus Lupin!" He held out his hand for her to shake, which she did, smiling.
Sirius took a look at her and thought that she was beautiful. I hope her and James aren't going out or anything... he said secretly to himself. "HI! Sirius Black here at your service! It's a pleasure! Anything you need...I'm right here!" He told her sarcastically, hoping to show her his charm. Unfortunatly, he knew that James had more.
Lily began to laugh. "Thanks Sirius! You are exactly as James explained you to me!"
"Uhh...I hope that's a good thing...Knowing James, I can imagine what he said about me!"
"Oh no! It's good! VERY good."
"Phew" Sirius continued to stare at her, and then it clicked.
"Hey James! Isn't Lily that girl that you...er...kind of...umm, how should I say this...disliked so much that you wanted to let the toilet have the honor of giving her a 'swirley' or throw her in a mud puddle so big that she'd drown only about a month ago?"
"Of course this is her! The one and only!" James put his arm around her shoulders confidently and Sirius muttered, "okay...whatever you say." "But we're great pals now!" James added. "Like I said, don't get on her bad side1 I'd beware..." This last part he whispered to the boys, but Lily still heard him.
"Ha ha ha!" She laughed mockingly. "I'd beware if either of you are friends with Glenn Darkmoon!" She teasingly pushed James' arm off of her. "And James...don't count your chickens before they hatch!"
James shrugged. "Chickens hatch? Must me some sort of muggle thing..."
"OH dear!" She slapped her hand against her forehead. "I can't believe I am trying to put up with you!" They all started to laugh.
"Ok..." Sirius interrpted their laughter. "Now about this prank you 2 are doing!"
Lily and James scooted over 2 giant mountains of candy just to sit down. Remus was waiting for the explination eagely while Sirius...well...Sirius to be quite frank, was a different story. It cracked Lily up just watching him be so ecstatic about a little joke. To make the situation even more fun, she tried to stall the process or telling them all about the prank...
"Now...what were we thinking?...hmm..." Sirius leaned forward at the edge of his seat. It was like teasing a dog with a bone. "Oh yes! I remember now!" Sirius was now so far off his seat, Lily knew he'd fall off soon, so she continued luring him in. "Ok...now here's the deal...wait!...where should I start?"
"Get on with it!!" Sirius was growing so impatient and everyone else burst into laughter when he fell off his seat and landed with an 'oomph' on a bunch of candy on the floor. "Ouch! Jeez Lily! James! Either tell me or don't! Stop teasing me!"
James was still laughing. "Sirius, you are so hilarious. I've never seen anyone get so worked up about discovering a little scheme! Ok...I'll tell you..."
James transformed his voice into the voice of a game show hosts. "Alrighty! Tell the eager fans what we have in store for Glenn, Lily!"
"Lily giggled and played along, changing her voice as well. "Well James! I tell ya...Glenn Darkmoon is in for the surprise of his life! His prize is tremendously hilarious! It's amazingly mortifying! Its..." Lily paused in the middle of her game show re-enactment when she saw the dazed look on Sirius' face. "What's wrong?" She asked, just as confused as Sirius looked.
"Tremendously hilarious? Amazingly MORTIFYING?!?" He questioned her stupidly.
"Uh...yeah...and your point is?"
Sirius still stared at her while James tried to hold in laughs, so Remus decided to help her out. "Umm...Lily? Anyone who's known Sirius for more than 3 days knows NEVER to say words with more than 6 letters in his presense."
Lily once more started to laugh. "Sirius! If that true, your vocabulary REALLY needs improvment!"
"Yeah...words higher than an 8 year old's comprehention seem to mess with the little brain he has left." Remus whispered.
Lily punched him playfully. "That was mean Remus!"
"Hey! Don't think I didn't hear that Moony! Its just weird that she talks like that! Lily, you must be a really brainy, school-ish person."
Lily shrugged.
"I'm sorry pal!" Remus apologized.
Sirius did a fake cry that was REALLY unconvincing.
"Moony?? What's that mean?" Lily asked them seriously.
"NOTHING!"
"Absolutely nothing!"
"It's just a dumb nickname!"
"Uh-huh..." Lily replied doubtfully. "What ever you say."
Sirius quickly decided to change the subject. "Ok James! You STILL haven't informed me of your plan! And if I don't get to be a part of it, there's going to be some major prank-pulling of my own!"
"Aww Sirius! You wouldn't even think of pulling a prank on your dear friend," James replied, pretending to sound sincere.
"Well, if you don't start to inform right now, I will highly consider it!"
"OK ok! I catch your drift! Here's what we're gonna do..."
Sirius and Remus leaned forward, tentatively as James began the explination. "The first years always travel separate from all the other students. My father told me that we're to ride to the castle on boats, but we came up with an alternative idea...."
Lily took over from there while James unrolled a piece of parchment on the floor. I was a perfect map of the grounds of Hogwarts that he found in his fathers study. He was just 'borrowing' it. "Instead of riding on the boats, we're going to run around the edge of the lake. All other students ride in carriges, so they'll give us a head start to the castle. Plus, we'll get there at night so it'll be dark. We have to get there as fast as we can and hope that there are no teachers in the main hall."
"It's a risk we're going to have to take," James said, not seeming the least bit worried if he got caught. "My father has practically given me a mental tour of Hogwarts, hoping that I'll get to classes on time. He said the first years go into the Great Hall to get sorted by a hat, and he told me exactly where it is, so getting there should be a cinch."
"Yeah, but the next part is the tricky part," Lily continued. "If we're not lucky once we get there, we're toast!"
"Go on..." Remus urged.
"Ok...Now what I tell you next, you have to promise never to tell anyone! It's very secret and it can get me into trouble if certain people find out."
"WE PROMISE!"
"We won't tell anyone!"
"Thanks...you see...I've...I've done magic before..." She stuttered nervously.
"What's wrong with that Lily?" Sirius asked, but was interrupted by an impatient James.
"WITHOUT A WAND!! She's levitated without a wand!!!!"
"WOW!" Remus and Sirius stared at her with awe and amazment.
"Thank you James! For that outburst of yours! Talk about a blabbermouth! I'm telling you...if the people withing 10 compartments down from us heard you, you will be more dead than Glenn!"
"Sorry Lily...you obviously don't realize how rare that is! It's really cool!"
"Apparently not. Anyway...we have to hope that I'll be able to do some magic without any practice. I've read about the spells we have to use, just not tried them."
"What are the spells?? KEEP GOING!!" Sirius begged.
James picked up where she left off. "In that bag over there, I have a ruffled old wizards hat. Lily's going to charm it to look like the sorting hat, or at least attemt to. I bought some of that glue from Zonko's that comes off only after 5 days, but not without completely tearing up what's it was stuck to. The REAL sorting hat will be put under a spell so it can only talk AFTER the prank has taken place. The glue is going to be put on the brim of the fake hat and will be placed on Darkmoon's head! In 5 days when the glue comes off...he'll be half bald!!"
Sirius and Remus burst into laughter. "Oh that is great! VERY evil, but he deserves it! But...how are you going to make sure that the hat's put on Glenn before everyone else?"
"Oh! That's one of the perks of your father being the minister! I sort of...er...borrowed without permission, a list of 1st year students from his office. The names will be called from this list right here." He drew out a rolled up scroll. "Glenn Darkmoon being the first name on the list! I'm pretty smart huh?"
"Excuse me Potter! I practically perfected the whole thing!" Lily teased him.
"Oh...yeah...sorry once again Lily."
"I was just teasing you James!"
"Well, I have to hand it to you Lily. This prank is brill!"
A couple of hours later, after consuming enough candy to feed a third world country, the train pulled to a stop and Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus stepped off, ready for action.