Chapter 2: New News
(Hey Guys! I hope you guys like my ff, considering it is my first that I've ever wrote… I'd really appreciate it if you guys reviewed! Secondly, I know I mentioned in chapter 1 that James was on a quest for Lily, so the beginning section of this chapter may be confusing for you, but it will be cleared up later on.)
Enjoy!
After passing a few different first year compartments and telling off of younger students, Lily finally found her friends, Hallie Timmons, Keily Sanders, and Veronica Boulvea.
"Hey guys!" Lily exclaimed, running towards them to give them each hugs.
"I missed you guys so much!" she said, hugging Keily.
"I missed you too, Lily!" Veronica said leaning forward to give Lily a hug after Keily.
"You've missed so much," Keily said. "Veronica and Hallie came over to my house over the summer, but when I tried calling you on the Muggle phone, no one answered."
"Hmm…" Lily said, "Must've been busy."
"Yea, I suppose." Keily replied.
"Do you want to hear the good news!" Veronica said, jumping up and down.
"Sure, sure, just stop jumping like a maniac!" Lily chuckled. "Tell me what it is!"
Veronica smiled over at Hallie and Keily before announcing her news.
"I'm dating James Potter!" she squealed.
Lily couldn't do anything but stare at her, mouth open wide. Lily couldn't help but feel betrayed, even though Veronica knew nothing of her recent discoveries. She was confused… What were those signs that James had been leading her on with early? Were those just one of his flirtatious gestures, or was Lily just daydreaming? Lily found herself hot with rage almost after she let the comment sink in, though she never showed it.
"Oh." Lily replied, for it was the only thing she could think of saying.
"I know, right? He's such a sweetie and I just love how he likes to snuggle up to me, no matter where we are."
Oh great. That's all she needed to know.
The rest of the time, while Veronica, Hallie, and Keily talked and gossiped, Lily read her Elite Transfiguration book, trying not to think about that arrogant, yet oh so charming, James Potter.
But halfway through reading "Human Transformations," James interrupted her by charging into her compartment. He greeted Veronica with a feisty kiss on the lips before beckoning over to Lily.
"Lily, come on, Prefect meeting! We've got to give out the passwords to the little squirts!"
"Oh, yeah, right. Let's go." Lily said, shutting her Elite Transfiguration book and walking towards the door of the compartment while waving goodbye to her friends.
Lily followed James through the chaos and after telling a few third years that launching off fireworks would land them in detention, reached the head department, where the Prefects were.
James rolled the compartment door and walked inside followed by Lily.
The eight Prefects from each of the houses sat among the seats in the compartment. There was a slight pause before James began to speak.
"Now, Dumbledore told me that Lily and I are supposed to give this ever so long speech about your duties as Prefects and all the glorious perks there are to this job and so on. But since qualified people have picked you as Prefects, I don't see the need to giving you a speech. What do you think, Lily?"
"Yeah, sure, I don't care." she responded, her head facing the ground watching a patch of cat hair move as the train made a sharp left turn.
Lily had the right to be mad at Veronica, didn't she? I mean, the least she could have done was tell her earlier. She was frustrated, no doubting that. It felt weird to her that she was upset about James dating Veronica. It felt like the only thing the two were looking for was lust. That was one thing Lily didn't want. She wanted commitment and somewhere she believed that James could provide her with that. It was crazy, yes, but she still had belief that it could happen.
"Alright then," James announced before pulling a few envelopes from within his jacket.
"These are the envelopes that contain your houses passwords for the entire year. Loose this envelope and the title you hold as Prefect will be forever jeopardized. Just imagine who could get into your house if they found the passwords and the trouble you would be landed with. Understand?"
"Yes." they all chorused.
James handed out the envelopes and then turned to Lily.
"Have anything to add?" he asked.
Of course she had things to add. But, she was feeling like those duties in which she was to perform were not important. What was important at the moment to Lily was being mad with all hell at Veronica.
"No." she replied, "Except that everyone needs to behave this term and have lots of fun."
James eyed her oddly as all of the Prefects began filing out of the head compartment. It was unlike Evans to give out a speech examining the whole outlook of the school's rules and being very careful to miss out on a single detail.
"Maybe it's just first day nerves." he said very quietly to himself as he watched Lily leave the compartment.
James sat down on the nearest seat, which was still warm from where the Prefects had sat. He rested his elbows on his knees and buried the palms of his hands into his face. He was tired, but not just from Sirius living with him. James felt stressed and a bit depressed at his life.
He had believed that Veronica and a little bit of shagging would make him happier, but it wasn't. The sex was boring and brought absolutely no please to James. He knew what would actually make him happier and that thing had been denying him for almost 6 years now. The something he desperately desired was Lily Evans.
But that amazing feat was damn near impossible for James. Over countless attempts to get Lily to like him over the past years, nothing had even came close to the state of "like."
Flashback-
It was the first day of Hogwarts James had ever encountered. He had heard many stories about Hogwarts from his older sister, Cecilia.
Cecilia and James were inside of Platform 9 ¾ , holding hands and talking
"Ok James! Today's your first day of school and don't let your nerves set in or else you'll end up chucking your breakfast all over that pretty girl standing by Tyler." she said, pointing over to a spot near the Hogwarts Express.
James looked and saw a short girl, probably his age, with flaming red hair that was tied into an elegant sort of bun. Her eyes were a color he described as "between grass and emeralds." She was pulling a trolley with her trunk and a white owl upon it.
"So James," Cecilia said, interrupting James' observations, "obviously you've found the train. I have to go to the head department with Tyler and give the speech for the Prefects. Think you'll manage with finding a seat?"
"I'm a Potter." he responded, "I believe I'll manage. Have fun at your meeting."
"Alrighty then, kiddo. See you later! Please make some friends, James dear. I'm sure you'll have no problem." Cecilia told him, smiling and then messing up his hair.
She kissed him on the cheek and walked away, waving. He waved back, before dropping his trolley off with the train crew. James looked for the red headed girl, but she was nowhere to be seen. Disappointed, James boarded the train.
He quickly observed the crowds of young witches and wizards, trading their Chocolate Frog Cards and playing games of Exploding Snap. While all of this was very amusing and pleasing to him, he really wanted to find that red haired girl.
He began walking through the train, but never once had he found her. He walked the entire length of the train before coming to the last compartment. This was the place the girl was, at least he hoped.
James pulled back the door to find a group of kids sitting and talking about Quidditch. There was the fiery red haired girl.
One of the boys stood up to shake James' hand.
"Hello. My name's Sirius Black."
"Hi, I'm James Potter."
James observed Sirius. He was about the same height as himself, shoulder length black hair. His face was tanned and his body muscular.
"These are my friends." he said, pointing towards the rest of the group.
"Peter Pettigrew."
He pointed to a short, stubby boy whose stomach seemed too large for his pants.
"Remus Lupin."
Remus Lupin looked slightly sick and his skin was pale. He was a very skinny boy whose puny arms could be seen from his tank top.
"And this is Lily Evans."
The red haired girl. James had gotten another chance to glance at those beautiful green eyes before she stood and held out her hand.
"Hello." she said, "Pleased to meet you. I'm Lily, as Sirius has already informed you. We were just discussing Quidditch and eating some Cauldron Cakes. Would you care to join?"
"Love to." he said before sitting in between Sirius and Lily.
"So," Sirius said, "which team are you supporting?"
"Fulhum Bobcats, for sure. They're a bloody brilliant team."
"Yeah, that's because they've got those new Cleansweeps that are fast as hell." Sirius replied.
"They're not as fast as they claim to be." James shrugged.
"How would you know?"
"Because I own one."
"Liar!" Sirius remarked. "What do you think, Remus? A potential liar?"
"Oh, I dunno. Depends if he can support his case."
"Fine, fine." James said, "I'll show you."
He stood up and pulled out his wand, twenty five centimeters, cherry oak, made with a single Unicorn hair, and held it in the air.
"Accio broom!"
After he said his incantation, his Cleansweep made a whizzing noise before landing before him. Sirius' eyes were wide, but when compared to Lily's looked miniscule.
"But… But… But…" Lily pointed.
"Yes, Lily?"
"You just did a summoning charm! That's a fourth year Charm spell! Where in the world did you learn that?"
"I dunno, just looked through my sister's old spell books and gave it a try."
"That was amazing… You must be quite powerful! I can't even do a simple levitating charm!"
"I wonder why." A foreign voice came from the compartment door.
It was Lucius Malfoy, a seventh year Slytherin who had a rep for possibly becoming a Dark wizard. James and Sirius both glared at him, as both families knew the Malfoy family, except for different reasons.
"Get away Malfoy, go shove off and find some other bloody Slytherin to talk to."
"No, Black, don't think I will. Now, back to business. It seems to me that this Mudblood cannot do this incantation because either A) She is stupid B) She is incapable of reading or C) She's a Mudblood. It seems that all of these reasons are true. What do you think, Potter?"
Malfoy turned to James, giving him an evil glare that could start a fire. His eyes were piercing into James, burning them like a marshmallow over open fire. James couldn't do anything but allow Malfoy to pierce the evil venom into his eyes. As Malfoy deceased his activities, James managed to spit out a couple of words.
"I think you're just as pitiful as your father, Damien. He was a weakling, you know? Well you probably wouldn't know seeing as my father killed him before you were even born. I guess the trait was passed on."
"You'll be repaying for that, Potter. One of these days when I actually feel like doing something unimportant in my life."
Malfoy left, shattering the glass of the compartment door. James fixed it with Reparo! before returning back to the group and finding Lily in tears.
"I'm sorry he did that to you, Lily. He's an idiot. You can always depend on me if you need protection. I can always help you if you need it so don't be afraid to ask." James said, comfortingly as he sat next to her.
She stood up quickly and looked James in the eye.
"You know, I don't need your help. I think I can manage by myself and I don't need you to baby-sit me!"
"I'm sorry, I just thought that… I just thought that…"
"What did you think? That I'm a little weakling? Well you thought wrong! Thanks a lot James Potter, you inconsiderable prat!"
She walked out of the compartment and turned right, to find another location to sit.
"What I'd do wrong?" James asked the group.
Flashback over-
James shook his head and took a deep breath. Ever since that first day of school, Lily Evans seemed to be annoyed and bothered by James' natural ability of help and assistance. It had bothered James so deeply, as James really just wanted her to feel safe.
But that was six years ago. And from that point six years ago, James had tried his best to become friends with Lily and get to know her. He hadn't found out much, but had found himself to have an extreme liking for her. She was smart, pretty, and social. (that is everyone besides James.) James loved her will to learn and her feisty attitude she carried with her.
But, he had to focus on the current time period. He was with Veronica, pretending to be happy. He was Head Boy and a member of the Marauders. His NEWTS would be coming up this year and he had to focus on his career to be like his dad: an Auror.
James stood up and walked back, following the trail that Lily had followed earlier, back to the compartment where his friends were.
((A/N: Hey, I hope you guys liked itI'm going to try and write as much as possible... But my term is ending soon and I have lots of exams to focus on! I'm taking my GCSEs way later than everyone in Britain, seeing as I'm American trying to get into a British college... But anway, I'm hoping to update next week!))
