Authors note: CHAPTER TWO IS UP… WHOOT WHOOT!
Hope you like it, R&R please!
Everyone at the school was seated in the Great hall for the End of the Year feast. (The exams were all over!)The hall was decorated in Blue and Gold. Ravenclaw had won the House cup but Gryffindor however, had won the Quddittch cup ("No wonder with James on our team!"). James, Sirius, Lupin and Wormtail were sitting together. Lily and Kat had sat next to Sirius and Wormtail, who were sitting across from James and Lupin. Sirius and James were joking around but everyone else was staring straight up at Dumbledore. He finished speaking and suddenly, all the tables were filled with the feast. A girl from Hufflepuff screamed as she found a rat on her seat. James and Sirius laughed.
"Grow up!" she said turning round. James and Sirius turned around too, to see Kat laughing softly. Sirius looked her right in the eyes.
"Prongs you and Wormtail are nutters… she has yellow eyes!"
James and Wormtail turned around and looked her in the eyes and noticed that he was right. She now had light yellow eyes, a lot like Madame Hooch's. She laughed and turned to Lily as they started conversation while eating.
After the feast, everyone went back up to there dormitories and packed, for they would be leaving on the Hogwarts express tomorrow.
When they got up, they dressed quickly in there robes then headed off down the stairs and shuffled outside to the train station. Most people were sad to leave with a few exceptions of course. They hurried onto the train to find a compartment and put their things away. Of course, the four boys found one together, so Kat and Lily found one too. The train had set off, and Lily and Kat were chatting away. Lily had her black cat on her lap. They were both sitting across from each other, legs out-stretched, when Severus opened the door to their compartment his trunk in his hand.
"Mind if I come in here," he said quietly, obviously embarrassed," they kicked me out of my compartment…"
Lily, was about to say no, but when she saw Kat put her legs down and smile, she followed suit.
"Thank you!" he said, putting his trunk away. Lily got up and sat next to Kat, who ignored her. She could tell Lily was trying to be rude. Instead, once he sat down, she started a conversation. At first she did most off the talking, but after a few minutes, he and Lily were talking and laughing, too.
A half and hour later, James and Sirius opened the door. They smiled and Snape got up suddenly and to "go the bathroom". He probably thought it best since they were prone to cursing him. James and Sirius took this opportunity to sit down and talk to them. Suddenly Sirius let out a weird "OY!".
They both looked at Kat, as if for the first time. She had pitch black, shining hair and she had green eyes.
"What's up with you?" James said. Kat and Lily both looked confused…then they burst with laughter.
"What's so funny?" Sirius said.
"The---look---on---your---faces!" Lily managed to say in between laughs. Kat wipes a tear from her eye.
"Okay, in all seriousness," she starts, "Were you talking about the way I look?"
"Yes!" said James. "One day you have grey eyes, one day you have violet, one day yellow, and now green! Other days you have Red hair, some days you have brown hair and now you have black!!"
To his surprise the girls both smiled.
"Mind telling us what's going on?" Sirius says.
"Yes," Kat says, "Sorry to keep you wondering. If you must know, I'm a Metamorphmagus."
"Oh!" says a voice from the doorway. It was Lupin. "Why didn't you tell us?! That's very cool!" Sirius and James exchange looks then look up at Lupin.
"Mind sharing with the class?" Sirius says. Lily laughs.
"A Metamorphmagus has the ability to change appearance at will."
"Exactly," says Lupin.
"So they could look like ANYBODY?" says James in amazement.
"Well no," Kat says, "We can't turn into Animals or anyone I haven't see a picture of." She changed to look exactly like Lily, even matching her voice. "But we can change, into anyone else that we want to." She changes into Madame Hooch, then Madame Pomfery, then back into her self with the black hair.
"That was brilliant!" Sirius says.
"I still don't get why you didn't tell us before, though," James says in awe.
"Maybe it's because she was afraid of the way you'd use it!' Lily starts.
"No…" Kat says, "I just forgot."
"But she wouldn't help you with your schemes anyway!" Lily said quickly.
"Now I didn't say that!" Kat says with a twinkle in her eye; because of the look that Lily gave her she promptly adds, "Now Lily, you only live once, so you've got to live a little! These boys have the right idea!"
"Kat I never thought I would hear you say that!" Lily said shocked.
"Well," said Kat, "I'm going to hang around them next year, so I should just drag you along with us sometimes." She winked at James, who was starting to like her more and more.
"That is…" Kat started, "If they'll have us around." The three boys answered so instantly with yes that she was almost shocked.
"Well then, see you next year!" they said to each other while they left. A few minutes later, Snape came back in and they started up another hilarious conversation.
When they arrived at the platform, they all shuffled off the train. As they got off, dragging their belongings, James waved at each of his friends and started to walk toward the exit as he saw Kat standing there just as she changed her appearance.
She now had soft auburn curls. Her hair was lying neatly on top of her shoulders. She took of her cloak, revealing a deep red Victorian-style dress. Her eyes where now light blue. She tied a red ribbon in her hair and disappeared through the wall onto the regular platforms. James noticed she had looked kind of sad. He followed her, then watched her walk to a women and curtsey. James walked up to her.
"Hello…" James thought for a second, and looked at the women standing next to her. She looked rather snooty. "Katherine." It sounded weird to call her by her real name.
"Hello, James" she said slowly in an English accent. "This is my mother," she added slowly.
"Madame Margarete Victoria Kathrine Xiang," she said dignified, "Order of Merlin, First class, part of the British upper crust, no doubt." She added, her nose in the air. Katherine Blushed profusely and looked at the ground.
"Nice to meet you…erm….Madame" he said bowing down. Katherine blushed a little less, but she was still quite scarlet.
"What a wonderful young man," she said smiling, "One day you must come over for tea." She turned on her heel to head for the limo waiting for them. Katherine opened her mouth to say something, but just before she could say anything she heard her mother yell, "Come along Elizabeth!". Katherine blushed even more, muttered a good-bye to James. She went into the car and she saw them drive away. James smiled and turned to see his parents, so he went to them to leave.
A few days after the "incident", James received an owl from Katherine. It read:
Dear James,
I am really sorry about my mother's behavior. I really don't
like to introduce her to my friends. She always makes it a point
to gloat about herself.
He paused. He knew exactly what she meant.
Mother's invited you over for tea like she said. No matter how
much I told her I already invited you in this letter, she insisted
on sending you a "proper invitation". It should arrive soon, she sent
it right after I sent this with my owl. It's just another way for
her to gloat, no doubt. Anyway, hope to see you soon!
Sincerely,
Katherine
He was about to close the letter, when he noticed a small bit of writing at the bottom.
P.S.
In case you were wondering, my middle name is Elizabeth.
He laughed and closed the letter. Just as he was putting it on his bedside table, (where a letter from Sirius laid), a big bird came through his window. It bowed graciously and extending its neck high into the air. He took the letter it had been carrying, which had quite a bit of gold on it. It fluffed itself up importantly, as if to show off, bowed again and left, followed by a much pestered owl. The bird was obviously the "Madame's". Her letter read:
The Xiang family cordially invites you to spend the day
with them. This, no doubt, generous offer may not come your
way again as soon as you would like it too, so you might as
well swoop up the chance and come on July the 17th, which is
a little more than a month away. The address is stated below.
Come at 10:00 am sharp!
Good day,
Madame Margaret Victoria Marie Xiang
Order of Merlin, 1st Class
Mistress of the British upper crustJames could defiantly see what Katherine meant about gloating. Her head was bigger then Lily had ever accused of him, he was sure of it.
On July 17th, he stood outside the Xiang's door at 9:55. He rang the doorbell.
It must be very loud, he thought, their house is about half as big as Hogwarts!
A butler came promptly to the door.
"Who might you be?" he said eyeing him suspiciously. Katherine, who was right behind him, turned quickly.
"Hello James!" she said excitedly, "Marcus let him in! We've been expecting him!" She was wearing a light pink Victorian dress. Her eyes were still powder blue.
She grabbed his hand and lead him down the stairs properly, into the backyard which was roughly twice the size of a Quidditch field, and that was only because there was a Quidditch field in the back. Madame Xiang was sitting down at a fancy table, under a canopy. When she saw them walking towards her, she smiled.
"Why hello there!" she said happily, "James I think it was?"
"Yes Madame, James Potter," he said bowing.
"You're a couple minutes early, a fine quality in a young man. Please, won't you sit down." she said then motion to a couple of the chairs around the small, round, white table.
She stayed with them through a couple cups of tea, telling witty jokes. James laughed; he found some of them quite funny. Katherine, on the other hand, faked a polite giggle and rolled her eyes, sipping her tea. She had obviously heard these jokes a million times before. Madame Xiang left after this, suggesting Katherine showed him around the house and grounds. After about ten minutes, Katherine decided to take her mom's advice, so she got up and lead James into the house to show him around there first.
She hurried through this tour, which James was rather grateful for. It bored both of them to tears. Frankly, she and James had decided most of the things that were priceless were named priceless for a reason. They were too ugly to set a price on; they'd be surprised if anybody would buy them. Especially a statue, which made no sense at all, and as Katherine had said, "Was about as horrid as all the dresses (including the one she was wearing) her mother bought and made her wear."
The outside grounds were much more interesting, even the gardens. One of them had a real waterfall in it. Next to the waterfall was a tree that looked just like the beech tree at Hogwarts. After she showed him the gardens, then she stopped at a small building just beyond the Quddittich pitch. Inside the building, was a locker room full of Quddittich posters.
"Wow…" James said in awe. "I didn't know you were so interested in Quidditch…"
"Are you kidding?!" she laughed. "It's one of my favorite things in the world! Look at MY priceless collection…"
She unlocked a door and stepped in. It had Quddittich collectables from every age! Brooms of every make and model, Signed bludgers from famous teams, and a collection of snitches were displayed on the right wall. On the left wall, there were Uniforms, timelines of the sport and brooms, and other gear. Most of the things were quite rare.
"This is amazing!" he said looking around.
He went to the center wall there were pictures. It had her with many different teams, or her playing Quidditch; some were autographed.
"You meet all these teams?!" James asked. "But… who's that man with you?"
In most of the pictures, she was standing with a man, taller than her, with short dark brown hair and reddish-brown eyes.
"Oh, that's my dad! He was one of the best Quidditch players ever! A lot of those men we're with were his mates. My dad would take to anything and everything related to Quidditch. He was the one who got me into the sport and taught me how to play. I learned from the best…"
James was silent for a moment…
"What happened to him?"
" He died when I was 12…" she said quietly. " He was on his way home to see me… Don't be sorry for me!" she said looking at James. "It happened years ago… It doesn't bother me anymore. I loved my dad. He was the best man ever."
James studied the rest of the pictures.
"James, here!"
He turned around to have a robe thrown at him. She had changed into her robes and now had Black hair and brown eyes… like her father.
"Care for a game? We have ghost players here."
He quickly put on the robe.
"You're on!"
After a couple games with James and Katherine as seekers they went back into the small building again. They changed out of the robes, and back into their normal clothes. ("Damn this dress!") Kat changed back to how she looked before.
"Why do always look like that here?" James said as they were walking around the grounds.
"It's because of Mom," she said huffily. "She makes me look like this."
Her owl met them under the beech tree.
"It's a letter from Lily!" she said happily. James smiled.
"I thought you too were supposed to be best friends… why isn't she over here?"
Katherine sighed.
"The 'Madame' is Pureblood and only purebloods may enter our house hold…"
"Oh, she's one of those, huh? Sirius' parents are like that…He usually comes and takes refuge at our house."
"I try to go to her house…" she said, "but it gets hard thinking up excuses…"
"Oh Elizabeth!"
"Speak of the devil…" Katherine murmured.
"Hello James," she said smiling quickly.
"Elizabeth, we need to go into town…we can drop off your friend on our way."
"Yes Mother." She said politely. James walked with her t the Limo, and they got in.
Kat said goodbye as they pulled up to his house.
"See you at the start of the term."
James turned and entered his house, quickly met by Sirius.
"Where have you been?" he said pretending to be hurt.
"How about I tell you over a game of exploding snap?"
He agreed, and they headed up to James' room to start the game.
The end of Chapter 2!
How did you like it? If you have any questions/comments/concerns, please Review or E-MAIL ME! I'd really like to know what you think of it! Chapter three soon to come!