A/N All future chapters will be named after a song that either seems relevant, or if i cant find anything, just a song that i like... this took forever. I had it done, but i'm just such a procrastinator, and i havent really been going onto as much lately. But here's chapter 3.
Life, Love and Jelly Beans
Chapter 3: "She Hates Me" - Puddle of Mudd
"She fuckin' hates me..."
The Gryffindor first years followed their Prefect up to Gryffindor tower in single file, their stomachs full to bursting from the fantastic feast they had thoroughly enjoyed in the Great Hall. It had been delicious, and they had been looking forward to eating after the long train ride from King's Cross Station, and then the tension from the sorting hat. Now, however, all they wanted to do was head straight off to bed so that they could get some sleep after all the excitement of the day.
The Prefect, a very tall sixth year girl with long brown hair, led them through many halls and passageways, that Lily was sure she wouldn't remember when morning came. They came to the end of a corridor and stopped in front of a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress.
"Password." she said, looking down at the group.
The Prefect answered with, "Funkadelic." and the portrait swung open revealing a large hole.
They all climbed through (some people needed a boost) and they found themselves in a big round room full of large squashy armchairs in front of a crackling fire. It seemed very homelike and cozy, and there were already some students heading up staircases, or else talking with friends.
The Prefect showed them the spiral staircases leading to their dormitories, but seemed tired herself.
While she was pointing them in the right direction, Lily thought she resembled a flight attendant at the beginning of a flight. She was about to whisper this thought to Amelia and Natalia, but suddenly remembered that they were witches, and probably would have no idea what she was talking about. For this reason, she decided against it.
The girls and boys each headed off up to their own dorms. Lily was sharing hers with four other girls. There was Natalia and Amelia, (Amelia had also made it into Gryffindor, like she had hoped) as well as two other girls she didn't know. One was a small girl with short blond hair and glasses who seemed quite shy, and the other had long curly blond hair, with sprinkles of freckles across her nose.
Lily, however, didn't get the chance to learn their names quite yet, because as soon as her head hit the soft pillow on her own bed, she fell into a deep sleep.
Lily woke from a dream of flying figures on broomsticks being chased by considerably large items of food (some of which had been present at the feast of the previous night) to a room filled with sunlight streaming through the tower windows. She hadn't closed the curtains of her four poster bed the night before, but didn't mind much since it allowed her the opportunity to lie on her back and observe her surroundings.
She was in another circular room with four other four poster beds, all with their red velvet curtains drawn shut, that she could hear faint breathing coming from. Each bed had the occupant's trunk at the end of it, which must have been brought up while the students were in the Great Hall. There were also high narrow windows which were the cause of the sunlight filtering through.
Lily got up and walked quietly over to one of the windows. She peered through and found herself looking down on the grounds of Hogwarts. She could see a large blue crystal lake with the sunlight reflecting off of it, and the occasional ripple in its perfect glasslike surface. Farther off she could see the tops of the Herbology greenhouses, just past some vegetable patches. Also, there was a large sport pitch with stands for the spectators and three 50 foot high hoops on either side, for a sport that Lily could not have guessed. In the middle of the grounds, off by itself, was a large tree with twisted branches that seemed to have just been planted there, although Lily could not identify what kind of tree it actually was.
Lily then noticed the dark mass of trees that stretched for miles in all directions, which composed the Forbidden Forest Professor Dumbledore had deemed off limits to all students. She thought it did seem rather unwelcoming. She then noticed a small hut on the edge of the forest, with smoke curling from its chimney.
"I wonder who lives there..." she thought.
Her attention was quickly taken away from the view when she heard shuffling coming from the bed nearest her. The curtains were pulled open and out came a groggy looking Amelia.
She yawned loudly, stretched, and then notice Lily standing there.
Lily smiled. "Morning sunshine." she said brightly.
"What time is it?" asked Amelia, ignoring the remark.
"Dunno. Should be about time for breakfast."
"You think we should wake the others?" asked Amelia, glancing over at the other beds.
"That might be best. That way, we can all find our way to the Great Hall together." answered Lily, remembering (or rather not remembering) the trip to the common room through all the different hallways and passages.
"Right."
After shaking the other three girls awake, (it proved to be a very difficult task getting Natalia to get up out of bed) they tried to find their way down to the Great Hall. Luckily, they saw some other older Gryffindors heading down for breakfast and followed them there, making sure to memorise their surroundings so that they could find their way back afterwards.
They found that most of the students were already seated at the four long house tables enjoying their breakfast of eggs, sausages, bacon, porridge... anything they could possibly have wanted to eat for their morning meal.
The girls found some empty seats and sat down together. They chatted and discovered the other girls' names.
The small blond haired one with the glasses was named Shelby Prewett, and the other one with the curly blond hair and freckles was named Donna Fickle.
However, before the girls got any farther into their conversation, they were interrupted by a group of four boys who came and sat across from them, talking loudly. Lily recognised the messy black haired one with glasses at once.
"Why hello Lily." he said beaming over all the piles of food between them. "Remember me?"
"How could I not?" she grumbled, looking down and picking at the raisins in her cinnamon bun.
"Well, I'm flattered." he said smiling, putting on his fake polite voice again. "And who are these lovely ladies who accompany you? Friends of yours?"
"Yeah." she said, then took a bite of the raisin-less cinnamon bun, avoiding giving him an introduction, as he was probably hoping for.
Lily didn't have to though, because Natalia did it instead.
"I'm Natalia Blake, this is Amelia Summers, Shelby Prewett and Donna Fickle." she said, pointing to each girl in turn. "And I guess you already know Lily." she added, looking in Lily's direction with a hint of curiosity in her voice.
The tall black haired one who Lily had stood beside during the sorting ceremony then spoke up.
"Well, I'm Sirius Black, this is Remus Lupin, and this is Peter Pettigrew." he said, first pointing to himself, then to a light brown haired boy with blue eyes, who nodded and smiled, then to a small brown haired boy with a round face, a pointy nose, and watery eyes who looked up at them shyly.
"Hey! And what about me?" asked James, placing his hands on his hips and putting on a mock look of offence.
"Oh yeah, and of course..." Sirius deepened his voice. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you, the one, the only - drum roll please- " he paused for effect. "James Potter!" he finally yelled, a little too enthusiastically, causing some people from the other tables to look in their direction.
"That's much better." said James with a nod of satisfaction, beginning to pile food onto his golden plate.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Anyway..." he began, but before he got any farther, James cut in, looking up with a piece of bacon halfway to his mouth.
"You know, Remus says he has a dog named Lily." he told them with a grin creeping across his face. "She's big and black..." he started. "But old and lazy!"
Lily felt her face going red, and she held a tight grip on her spoon, prepared to fling its contents of porridge in James's face, having already finished her cinnamon bun.
She was a little disappointed when professor McGonagall came by the Gryffindor table handing out timetables, but relieved to be changing the subject away from old, lazy dogs that had the same name as her.
"Let's go." she said, standing up quickly.
The rest of the girls followed suit, and Natalia turned back to say, "See you in Transfiguration boys." She smiled sweetly and gave a little wiggle of her fingers.
They joined the surge of students exiting the Great Hall and headed off to their very first magic lesson.
Lily came panting into the Transfiguration class a minute after the second bell had already gone.
"Sorry - I'm late - Professor..." she breathed, bending double and holding a stitch in her side.
"It's quite all right Ms. Evans, since this is your first lesson on your first day. Just quickly take a seat so we may begin." instructed Professor McGonagall.
Lily slumped down into the only available seat next to Remus, the light brown haired boy she had met during breakfast who was friends with James.
The reason Lily had arrived to class late was that on her way from the Great Hall with the other girls, she was deep in thought thinking about how annoying James was, and had become separated from the others . She had no idea where the Transfiguration room was (or any other classroom for that matter) but she found a teacher who pointed her in the right direction. She raced there as quickly as possible, so she wouldn't be too late.
Remus leaned over and whispered something to Lily.
"It's pretty easy to get lost if you're not used to Hogwarts. You know, it has a hundred and forty two staircases in all." He smiled and winked, with a twinkle in his light blue eyes.
"Yeah." answered Lily, uncertain if he was making fun of her or giving her some form of advice.
She returned her attention to the teacher at the front of the class who was explaining to the class all about Transfiguration, and got them to write down the basic rules.
James raised his hand and asked if they would be trying any transfiguring yet, but McGonagall answered with a small laugh and a, "Certainly not!"
Once their class was over, Lily found Remus's little fact to be quite right, and she ended up being late for every lesson that followed.
She wasn't the only one, though.
While busy looking for the girls after losing them once again in the thick crowd, she heard a voice from behind her.
"So we meet again, Lily Evans."
Lily spun around and found herself face to face with with none other than James. She groaned loudly.
"Not you again!"
"Yep, it's me again, and we both seem to be lost this time." He grinned broadly.
"Yes, it appears so..." Lily said through clenched teeth. "Now leave me alone. I don't need your help." She turned around and began to walk off in a random direction, hoping that she was heading towards the dungeons for Poyions with the Slytherins, but with James at her heels.
By now, he halls had emptied out considerably, and doors were being closed. The second bell went, and Lily and James were late.
"You're going the wrong way." he said simply.
"How would you know? You just said you were lost too!" she snapped.
After a slight pause, James shrugged his shoulders and said, "I lied."
This made Lily very angry. It's all his fault she's late! He could have at least been kind enough to show her the way.
"All right then Mr. Know-it-all!" she yelled, turning to face him. "Lead the way!" She flailed her arms, and could feel her face going red.
Her sudden outburst seemed to have shocked James, and others it seemed too. A door nearby swung open and a small teacher with pointed ears was standing in the doorway. The two looked down at him.
"Get to class you two." he said in a squeaky voice. "the second bell has already gone. You should be in class right now."
"Uhhh... sorry professor... we just got lost." said Lily.
"Well that's no excuse to be yelling out in the halls. It's quite disruptive."
"Sorry." mumbled Lily.
The tiny professor then gave them directions, and once they were out of earshot, Lily let out a sigh of relief. "Phew, that was close! I'm glad he didn't take any points from Gryffindor."
"Close? You call that close? That was nothing!" said James arrogantly.
"You just... just, shut up."
They were silent the rest of the way to Potions, and when they finally walked into the classroom, almost 15 minutes late, the teacher, Professor Davies, wasn't too happy.
"You're late, you two." she snapped. "15 points each from Gryffindor." she said, before they could get a chance to explain. "One for every minute of learning time you've wasted. Now sit down."
Already Lily knew she didn't like Professor Davies. She was a tall skinny witch, with frizzy red dyed hair and a slightly pinched nose. She looked as if she never smiled, and she seemed to take pleasure in taking points from them. Lily later found out that she was the head of Slytherin, and that she was very unfair to all students except her own.
Lily went and sat down in the empty seat next to Amelia, and sank low in her chair. She had already had points taken from Gryffindor, and on her first day! She sat without saying another word for the whole lesson, anticipating the end of the day.
Later that evening in the common room, Lily sat in front of the fire, crackling merrily in its grate, in one of the squashy armchairs reading Ella Enchanted. Someone came and sat down in the armchair next to her, but Lily didn't even glance up from her book. She was at a good part.
"Hey," the person finally said.
Lily looked up and saw the beautiful black haired girl looking back at her.
"Hey," she said back, returning her gaze to her book.
There was another moment's silence, then, "Look, it's okay to lose a couple points on your first day. You're still getting used to things. Don't let it bring you down," she added comfortingly.
Lily sighed and closed her book. "It's not just that. It's just... so different here. All these new things... major culture shock. And... James isn't making it any easier for me. He's just... so annoying!"
"Hey, boys will be boys, right? Listen, just ignore him and maybe he'll get the picture and leave you alone. Come on, let's play a game of wizards chess." She stood up and beckoned for Lily to follow. Lily was reluctant at first, but finally gave in with a sigh and joined her friend.
A/N Thats it for now... so if i get enough reviews maybe ill update... maybe. I'll have to see. So review!! I need a shove every now and then, and maybe some inspiration would help too.... anyone know where i can find some?
funkyrocker
