Chapter 3:
As the train came to a stop James and Sirius rushed out to find Snape. They soon found him talking to an older white-haired, pale boy—they would have to draw him away. They didn't feel like hexing an older student in fear of his retaliation. They did not, however, think that greasy-haired, hook-nosed Snape would be any threat to them after they pranked him. Luckily, the pale boy walked away before they had to think of a way to get Snape alone.
"So Snivillus," Sirius started, "When's the last time you took a shower." When Snape chose to ignore this comment Sirius continued, "cause we just wanted to let you know before you embarrassed yourself."
"Did you have a point in coming over here Black?" Snape asked, his thin eyes narrowed and some color finally seeping into his pale cheeks.
"Yeah actually we did" James said. "We just wanted to help you with the job."
"What job?" Snape asked.
In answer, James said "Scourgify!" When bubbles started to come out of Snape's hair, James, trying to stop from laughing, said, "Hmmm. Must have overdone the charm."
"Guess we'll just have to give you a good rinse-off then." Sirius laughed. He then pushed Snape into the water and looked up to see a crowd of people cheering at them. Even Remus, who hadn't approved of it from the beginning, was trying hard not to smile. James and Sirius didn't do anything to acknowledge their audience, instead, they just laughed. James decided that harmless hexes were fun, and he couldn't wait to find his next victim.
All the first-years, including Snape, followed a tall man called Hagrid into the boats while the other students went off in another direction.
As she was walking through the great hall, Lily looked up and saw the three boys she had shared a compartment with for the first part of the train ride staring at her. They must have been able to tell she was crying. With her light complexion, people could tell when she had been crying fairly easily. "What are you guys staring at?" She asked, outraged.
"Nnn-nothing!" Remus said quickly.
'Sirius was right, he definitely has the hots for her.' James thought.
"Why do I have to be so damn noticeable?" Lily muttered.
James saw this as a perfect opportunity, "Don't like being noticeable, do you Evans?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but no, I don't like to stick out"
"Sorry but your hair does a pretty good job at that." James claimed.
"Maybe I should just get rid of it then." She said both angrily and sarcastically.
"I have a better idea." James said.
"What is it?" she asked.
James muttered a spell under his breath and with a flash of light Lily's hair turned from flame red to mud brown.
"Ahhhh!" Lily exclaimed. "What did you do to me?"
"You said you wanted to blend in more."
"Don't you usually ask people before you turn their hair a different color?"
"Are you talking about a civilized person or James?" Sirius asked.
Lily chose to ignore this and demanded, "Change it back! NOW!"
"You want your hair to be flame red?" James asked, an idea forming in his mind.
"Yes, I do."
"Okay then." James muttered another spell and Lily's hair burst out in flame.
With that, Lily ran screaming from the room, and, to her astonishment, laughs and giggles followed her. Maybe leaving home wasn't the best idea after all.
"What's up with her?" James asked.
"I dunno mate, guess chicks don't like that sort of stuff. Bloody brilliant though." Sirius exclaimed.
"Chicks don't like that stuff? Try anyone in their right mind. Who'd want to have their hair lit on fire?" Remus said huffily.
"I dunno, never get cold in a blizzard, right?" Sirius said.
"I don't think you really mean that, but I'll keep it mind for when it snows." Remus said, finally allowing himself to laugh.
"I don't get it though; she said she wanted her hair to be 'flame-red.'" James said.
"I believe it was you who used those terms." Remus said. "Besides, you do get it, I know you're not that thick."
James pondered Remus' statement before saying, "Still, she agreed. Why do chicks have to be so damn sensitive?"
Remus was about to answer when Professor McGonagall came out with a stool and a hat. She left the hat on the stool so that it could explain how the sorting would work. At the end of the cheesy song, the whole crowd erupted and Sirius and James looked at each other and burst out laughing. It seemed too easy that the way that they would be sorted was by a hat.
Professor McGonagall than began to call out the names:
"Anstruther, Rachel"
A cute girl with auburn-brown hair and a few light freckles on her nose, sat on the stool and put the hat on. It went down to cover her forehead and eyes. She just sat there on the stool for a moment, feet swinging back and forth, before the hat shouted "Gryffindor." The table to the far right erupted in cheers. She went over to it and sat down.
And so the sorting when. Walter Anthony was sorted into Ravenclaw, Kelly Atkins into Hufflepuff, and Alicia Bagley to Ravenclaw.
"Black, Bellatrix"
James looked at Sirius and he mouthed "my cousin."
Bellatrix Black had long black hair, a pointy pale face, and a look of superiority. She sat down on the cheap wooden stool like it was a throne and placed the hat on her head like a throne. She didn't, however, have to keep the hat on her head for very long, for almost immediately after she touched the hat onto her head it shouted "Slytherin."
"Black, Sirius"
Sirius casually walked up and sat on the stool and jammed the hat onto his head. After sitting there for a while, the hat shouted "Gryffindor." He took the hat off and put it back on the stool. He ran to the cheering Gryffindors with a huge smile plastered on his face. In the audience, James watched as Snape and a boy named Rodolphus Lestrange exchanged glances, and Remus couldn't help but notice Bellatrix glaring at Sirius at he sat down at the Gryffindor table. After Thomas Dale and Francesca Dunn were sorted into Hufflepuff and Slytherin, respectively, Professor McGonagall called "Evans, Lily."
When nobody answered she tried again. "Evans, Lily."
Lily ran from the room crying, she had never been more embarrassed in her life. Although she had never been exactly popular, she had always avoided being the target of bullies. This year, it seemed that she became a target for both bullies and gossip when she wasn't doing anything to draw attention to herself.
She ran into the bathroom and stuck her head into the sink. She turned the faucet on and let the flames die out. In the process of running out of the bathroom and she ran straight into a seventh year girl named Molly Prewett. She knew she was a horrific sight with her scorched hair and teary eyes. Molly, being a seventh girl and head girl, was able to cut Lily's hair so there weren't any scorch showing, but it still looked alright.
"We better get you back to the feast before you miss the sorting." Molly said kindly.
"Thank you so much!" Lily exclaimed, she couldn't be more thankful for what Molly did for her.
"Don't mention it. What's your last name, sweetie?" Molly asked.
"Evans"
"Evans? Goodness we better run!"
They ran through the halls and to the sorting ceremony where Lily ran in just in time to hear Professor McGonagall call her name for the third time. "Evans, Lily."
"What do I do?" she asked Molly in a hushed tone.
"Just go up and put on the hat, it will tell you what house you're in." Molly replied in a whisper.
"Thanks!" Lily whispered back before shouting "HERE!" to Professor McGonagall to the rest of the hall.
As Lily ran up to the front of the hall, by where all the teachers were sitting, she could feel eyes following her and some giggles protruding from the people the eyes belonged to. Lily didn't really care anymore though. Potter and his friends could try and screw up her life as much as they wanted, but the one thing that she wouldn't let them screw up was her dignity.
She ran up to the front, jammed the hat onto her head and waited. After considering Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, the hat finally made it's decision. It shouted the word Gryffindor to the rest of the hall. And even though people weren't cheering as loudly for her as she would've liked, she couldn't help but smile.
The smile, however, quickly disappeared from her face when she saw Sirius Black sitting at the table. He waved at her and motioned for her to sit down by him. She, deciding that she had had enough of his type of practical jokes, decided to ignore his motion and sit somewhere else. She found Molly sitting with some of her friends at the other end of the table. Although Molly was a seventh year, she was nice, so Lily thought that she wouldn't mind if she sat by her.
When she saw Lily approaching, Molly eagerly moved over to make room for Lily. Although she was a little too old for Lily to consider her one of her friends, it felt good to know a student in the wizarding world that didn't hate her. Lily didn't talk much for the rest of the evening, she just ate. She was hungry and she didn't want to say anything to embarrass herself.
After the feast was ended, Molly led Lily and the rest of the Gryffindor first years their dormitories. As she followed Molly, Lily could feel every first year's eyes upon her. Some whispered, some giggled, but everybody was looking at her. She didn't know how she become so unpopular when she had barely uttered a word since she had arrived at Hogwarts.
She followed the four other girls up to her dormitory and sat down on her bed. Kaitlyn Holmes and Marlene McKinnon started laughing in a corner and she knew it was about her. She decided to ignore them and meet the other two girls in her dormitory. "Hi, I'm Lily! What are your guys' names?" She asked politely.
"I'm Casey Volley" said an African girl with cornrows in her hair.
"Rachel Anstruther." Said a pretty girl with auburn-brown hair and some freckles on her nose. "So what's it like to be hated by the two hottest guys in the year?"
I couldn't take it anymore; I took out my Charms textbook out of my backpack and went downstairs to the common room. I decided that maybe I would begin to learn the repairing charm tonight.
James waited impatiently for his turn to be sorted. Both of his friends had been sorted into Gryffindor, and he prayed to God that by the time they started eating, he would be sitting by them. For the first time, he was starting to get doubts of whether he would be sorted into Gryffindor. Three of the five boy's spots had been given up.
After Remus had been sorted and he had no one to talk to, he waited throughout Mabel, Mayne, McKinnon, Mumph, Nott, O'Donnell, Parnell, and Patil. Finally when James thought that it was his turn, Professor McGonagall called:
"Pettigrew, Peter."
A short, round boy with mousy brown went up to the front of the room (tripping twice on his way up) and tried the hat on. He sat on the stool a long while and James was growing impatient. 'Could the hat just put him in Hufflepuff?' he thought. The hat finally made it's decision, "Gryffindor." It shouted.
'Good God!' James thought. 'That oaf got into Gryffindor?' James couldn't help being cynical of the clumsy boy. 'If he can, anyone can. But with Peter Pettigrew, Thomas Hall, Sirius and Remus all in Gryffindor there's only one spot left. Damn it.' James' thoughts broke off, however, when he heard Professor McGonagall called his name.
James walked up to the front of the room put the hat on casually and sat down on the stool. James couldn't help but notice that the hat fit on his head perfectly. He didn't have to sit there for long, because almost exactly when the hat touched his head, it shouted "Gryffindor."
He got up and followed the eruption of cheers to the Gryffindor table. He slid in next to Sirius and ran his hand through his hair. Sirius gave him a high-five and said "Nice going mate, I knew you had it in you."
"Thanks!" James replied, not able to stop smiling, "you too!"
"Yea, yea. It's not that big of a deal—it's only a house anyways." Sirius said as if it was nothing.
"I think you damn well know you would be singing a different tune if you had been sorted into Slytherin." James said, knowing that his friend didn't want to uphold his family's tradition.
"Shut the hell up, a hottie's being sorted." Sirius said staring at a blond haired, blue-eyed, tan girl who was sitting on the stool with the hat on your head. "Please be Gryffindor, please be Gryffindor…" Sirius said under his breath. The hat however didn't oblige to Sirius' wish and placed the girl in Ravenclaw.
"Awww, well that's okay Sirius. Look at all the hottie's we have in our house." James said. "Look at Rachel Anstruther!" James stared at the Irish girl with auburn-brown hair and a nose dotted with freckles.
"Yeah, she's okay. But I myself prefer Kaitlyn Holmes." Sirius said.
"Sucker for blondes, are you Sirius?" James asked. "What about you Remus, who do you like?"
Remus was staring down the table, towards a girl with emerald-green eyes and red hair, but quickly looked back when James asked him a question. "Yeah he answered, Rachel and Kaitlyn are pretty." He said, before staring out into space.
"What's up with him?" Sirius laughed.
"I think you were right about him having the hots for a certain red-head." James whispered. "I caught him looking that way before he answered my question."
A/N: So here it is, the third chapter. Lily's life starts out pretty crappy, but she makes a friend in Molly Prewett, and her hair looks fine now. I hope that you're enjoying this fic so far! If you read and review I would be really grateful. In the next chapter Lily will make another friend where she least expects it! That's all I'll say for now! Keep reading and reviewing, and I'll keep writing!
Thanks to my latest reviewers:
Ycantibreathe: Thanks for your review! On my word document whenever I did it programmed it to make a dotted line all across my paper. I thought that it was sort of cool so I left it there. However, much to my dismay, it didn't turn up when I posted it. So now I have undone the auto-adjustment and just left the . Also, thanks for your complements, and I'm sorry Lily's life seems bad right now. I just had to do something that would explain why she hated James so much. I decided that the reason she hated his pranks so much was because she had been a target.
Jewels5:I'm so sorry! I didn't realize that I was making everybody have to sign in when they reviewed my story. Oh well, I fixed that now, and hopefully that didn't stop too many people from reading and reviewing! Thanks for your compliment on my original ideas. Hopefully, they will piece together well as I write more of the story. I'm on chapter 6 right now, and I don't think I've ran over any speed bumps yet. If I make a mistake, let me know. I'd like to be able to fix it.
Next Update:Probably not for another couple of days. I am at a place where I can't get much internet access. Right now is an exception! This weekend, I will focus on writing more right now! My goal is to be to chapter 12 by the end of the weekend. I'm not planning on making this book too long, mainly because it only covers their first two years at Hogwarts and I'm planning on writing three or four sequels. (Their 3rd 4th year, their 5th and 6th year, their 7th year, and possible one after that.)