Chapter 6: A Little Bit of Phasmophobia and a Small Chance
Amanda and Amos were the first ones to arrive at the front door. When Amos walked up to doors, they opened themselves, revealing the Entrance Hall. Amos led the way to the Great Hall. When Amos opened the door Lily gasped, even though she was expecting it to look like this, it took her breath away every time. They could see many stars in the ceiling that was enchanted to show the sky above.
Lily then walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down followed by her friends (plus the Marauders). James tried to get Lily to talk to him, but Lily kept turning her head away or she would talk to Mariah or Claire.
After only a few minutes Professor McGonagall walked in, followed by all of the many first years. Lily looked at them and saw one little girl with blonde hair soaked head to toe looking furious and a little boy with short black hair laughing at her wildly. Lily thought back to her first day at Hogwarts and remembered hers being very similar to the little blonde girl's. James pushed her out of the boat they happened to be sharing. Lily was horribly angry and James was extremely amused. Lily guessed that the same exact thing probably happened to those two.
Professor McGonagall left the hall and once again emerged only this time carrying a stool and the sorting hat. She set the stool down in front of the hall and placed the ripped hat on it. She stepped away from it. All of the students sitting at the table watched the hat, waiting. All of the first years followed suit and watched the hat in confusion.
The hat's brim opened up like a mouth and began to sing. The hat sang about the qualities of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. It then sang about how Godric Gryffindor created the sorting hat to sort the students when they were no longer able to sort them themselves. It sang about the troubled times they would have to live through and to always stick together.
Sirius looked over at the Slytherin table and rolled his eyes, "Like that's going to happen."
"Now don't say that Padfoot," Remus said, "You never know…oh who am I kidding!"
Lily tuned out the Marauder's conversation at that point and watched as the sorting began. Professor McGonagall pulled a long scroll out of her cloak and read, "Andwall, Gregory."
The boy who had been laughing at the little blond girl ran up to the stool and jammed the hat on his head, instantly the hat yelled out, "RAVENCLAW!"
The Ravenclaw table then burst out in cheers and the little boy walked smugly over to the table.
Professor McGonagall then read, "Athorn, Courtney." A little red head walked slowly up to the hat, shaking. She gently put the hat on her head and sat on the stool. About fifteen seconds after she had put the hat on her head it shouted out, "Slytherin!"
Bernard, Chastity was the first Gryffindor to be sorted. She had short, choppy blonde hair and glowing green eyes. She looked very shaken up as she walked over to the Gryffindor table as the Gryffindors all cheered loudly. Chastity sat down next to James. Lily felt sorry for the poor little girl, James was sure to do something to her and she already looked scared enough.
Chastity was looking around nervously. James noticed this and decided to give her a little scare. He got up to "go to the bathroom." He left the great hall, quietly and unnoticed due to everyone paying attention to the sorting, apart from Lily, worried about what James might be up to.
James waited outside the Great Hall for a few minutes and then silently reentered. He tiptoed behind the Gryffindor table and stood behind Chastity. The Marauders were sitting across from her and were the only ones apart from Lily who saw James there. Lily and Remus were both about to Tell Chastity about James sneaking around behind her but James whispered, "Boo!" loudly in her ear before Lily or Remus could tell the frightened little about him.
James realized instantly that he should not have scared the girl. He didn't realize she would be affected the way she was. Chastity Screamed at the top of her lungs and tears welled up in her eyes. She started shaking violently.
The whole school was staring at the poor little girl (and the boy being sorted toppled off of the stool). Dumbledore left his seat and rushed over to her. He knelt down and talked to her quietly. No one was quite sure exactly what Dumbledore said to Chastity, but everyone knew that Chastity was holding her knees, shaking and repeating, "Ghosts…Ghosts…Not Ghosts!"
After Dumbledore had calmed her up a bit she was escorted out by Ms. Dougherty. Dumbledore then told Professor McGonagall to continue the sorting and sat down next to James where Chastity had been, "James I am disappointed in you, I know you that it was a little harmless prank, but poor Chastity had a severe case of phasmophobia."
"And what is fatsofoamy?" James asked.
"Phasmophobia is the fear of ghosts," Dumbledore explained.
"So she though I was a ghost?"
"Well she has never really seen or met a ghost before, she doesn't know that ghost hardly ever will whisper 'boo' in your ear."
"What about the ghosts here?"
"They're still here, but they have all been asked to be invisible so she will not notice them, you may have noticed the absence of Sir Nicholas DeMimsy Porpington. He is actually at the end of the table next to Miss Susan Bones over there."
"But what happens when she finds out that there are ghosts here."
"Well we are hoping to eventually eliminate her fears; her parents have given us permission to slowly reveal our ghosts. She will most likely have a very difficult time at first and we are hoping to teach her that there is nothing to be afraid of."
Lily then chimed in, "Ooh! I'll help. I always felt that ghosts have been misrepresented, except maybe the Bloody Baron, but the majority of them are wonderful people. I mean just because they are dead does not mean that they weren't decent people. Look at Nearly Headless Nick and the Fat Friar, they are great people."
"That is very kind of you Lily," Dumbledore said, a fresh though coming into his head. He was surprised he had never thought of it before, "Of course you can help. And I think that it would be a good idea for James to help also, that way maybe poor Chastity will trust him, and James will make up for his prank. You and Lily can work together with her, and eventually you two can help her face her fears."
A smile broke out on James's face. He would be working together with Lily...another chance to win her heart (and to just be in her company). It my not be the most fun thing to introduce ghosts to someone who is phasmophobic, but at least he got to do it with Lily. So his prank worked to his advantage after all. "I think that would be a great way for me to work off my debt for the horrible prank I pulled. I would just love to help Chastity overcome her phasmophobia."
"Um don't you think that he has done enough to help, just imagine how horrible it would be for Chastity to have someone like James introduce her to ghosts?" said Lily, trying to find any possible reason not to work with James.
"I'm sorry Lily but as much as you don't like it, you will have to work with James. I think it is a very good idea to have him help," Dumbledore said, reading Lily's mind perfectly.
"But what if he scares her again," Lily protested.
"I won't, don't worry," James was thankful that Dumbledore wasn't changing his mind.
"James is helping and that is final." Dumbledore then stood the rest of the way up from his crouching position and returned the center of the teacher's table.
Lily looked back up at the sorting as Professor McGonagall called out, "Ziggorney, Sidney!"
A small girl with very dark hair plopped down in the stool and the hat cried out instantly, "SLYTHERIN!"
Sidney ran up excitedly to the Slytherin table and sat down next to a small blonde boy.
The attention was then diverted to Dumbledore who was holding up his goblet and tapping it quite exuberantly with his knife.
Chastity looked at Lily and asked, "Why is he hitting his goblet so hard, we can hear him just fine?"
Lily smiled and replied, "Dumbledore has always been a little…different, but he is a very intelligent man, I'm sure he knows that you can hear him."
Chastity smiled back at Lily and turned her head and prepared to listen to Dumbledore's (very short) speech.
Dumbledore set down his goblet and knife and began: "Now I am sure you are all very hungry after that long train ride, but I have one important thing to say…You may now stuff your faces!" He then sat down and everyone began grabbing the food off of all the plate that had just filled themselves.
Everyone began eating and talking with their mouths full, no one able to understand anyone else. Once people started slowing the food disappeared and Dumbledore stood up once again and addressed the crown once again.
"Welcome back to a new year at Hogwarts, it is nice to see some familiar faces, and some new ones. As much as I would love to start the year with good words I must get to some serious news.
"As you know, Voldemort is getting stronger and more powerful everyday, along with gaining new followers everyday. A few our students who have graduated the previous year have become aurors, and some have died. I would like to have a moment of silence for the loss of these wonderful young adults for all sacrificing their lives for our safety."
The Great Hall was almost silent. All but one house showed their respect for their alumni who died for them. Everyone could hear many of the Slytherin laughing and chatting. They could specifically hear Lucious Malfoy voice most clearly.
After a few minutes Dumbledore looked back up and excused everyone to their dormitories.
Lily, Remus, and the four other Gryffindor prefects led everyone to the Gryffindor common room.
When they reached the common room Lily walked in front of the Fat Lady and addressed the crowd, "This year the password to get in to the common room is Artemis."
Just as Lily said the password the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and everyone filed into the room. The Marauders, Lily, Claire and Mariah took over the couches by the fireplace. Lily and Mariah sat next to each other and James sat next to Lily. Remus sat next to Sirius and Peter and Claire sat comfortably in Remus's lap, stroking his hair.
James was just about to flirt with Lily when Chastity walked into their corner. Chastity sat in the single armchair next to fireplace.
Sirius and Claire stared at her like she was crazy, Lily, Remus and Mariah felt bad for the poor little girl and James felt even worse for scaring her like he did.
James decided he would try and make a few points with Lily by apologizing, "Hey Chastity…"
The little girl looked surprised, "Yeah?"
"Well I really wanted to say I'm sorry for scaring you like that, I didn't think I would scare you that bad," he said, hoping Lily would think he was doing this for Chastity, not just think he was doing it to impress her (even though he was).
"It's okay, I was just being silly, I just got startled," she had no idea they knew about her phasmophobia.
Lily joined in, "Oh, it's perfectly normal to get scared every once in a while. James is just a jerk, he likes to pull pranks on people and hurt their feelings and torture them and make them COMPLETELY MISERABLE!"
Chastity jumped back, surprised that Lily started yelling so loudly, "I-I'm sure he can't be that bad…"
"Yeah, I can't be that bad!" James agreed with the little girl.
"Oh yes you can, and I still haven't forgiven you for ANYTHING you've done!" At that Lily got up and went into the girl's dormitory with Claire and Mariah following to try and calm her down a bit.
James put his head in his hands and groaned.
"Well, you had it coming," Sirius said.
"Shut the hell up," James pulled his head out of his hands. "I'm going up there."
"Um...1st of all not the best time," Remus said, "and 2nd of all-"
"I don't care, I'm going!"
"The stairs!"
James had set foot on the first few steps to the girl's dormitory when they turned into a slide and he slid back down.
"Shut up Moony."
James pulled out his wand. He flicked it once and a pole appeared above the slide. James flicked it again and a rope appeared on the pole that reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Hmm…good idea," Remus commented.
James grabbed the rope and climbed up. Once he had gotten all the way up he had rope burn on his hands, but he didn't care, he'd broken all four limbs at once, like he cares about a little rope burn.
James opened the door to see Lily looking very angry, being patted on the back by Mariah and Claire.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF THE GIRL'S DORM POTTER, YOU IMATURE BASTARD!" Lily noticed James standing in the doorway.
"I just wanted to apologize, I am so sorry for everything I have ever done to you," James said, "I just wish I could start on a clean slate, I would do everything different; I wouldn't be such a jerk. Can you please find it somewhere in your heart to forgive me."
"Maybe once you're done being such a jerk to everyone in your path."
"Look, if you're talking about that little girl Chastity, I didn't mean to scare her. I seriously thought she would laugh!"
"It's not just her, I mean look at Severous. He never did anything to you…that is until you did all that shit to him. Like that time you dangled him upside down and threatened to take of his underwear, or when you go trying to scare all the little kids. And you think you are so smart, always trying to show off, it is so annoying!"
James walked over and sat down next to Lily on her bed, looking down at his feet. He decided just to be blunt and get it over with, "Will I ever in my life have a chance with you?"
"Not unless you become a completely different person, because I can't stand you the way you are!"
"Tell me what I can do, I'll do anything," James was looking into Lily's eyes with a pleading look.
"Why do you even like me? Is it just because you can't have me?"
"No! I like you because you stick up for what you think is right. You aren't like anyone else; you are your own person. You're the person I want to be with. You are always nice to everyone…accept me. I don't know exactly what it is but I do know that I want to be with you more than anything in the world."
"Aw! Lily that is so sweet, how can you hate him so much?" Mariah couldn't help but say anything.
"You know what James, if you really want to be with me you will turn yourself around and that is all I'm going to say to you besides get out of my dorm."
James got up and left the room without a word. So he might have a chance, as long as he turned things around, as long as he changed his image in Lily's eyes he would have a chance with her. He had a small chance.
With a flick of his wand James made the pole and rope disappear and then climbed down the now present stairs.
"So how'd it go, loverboy?" Sirius asked.
"Better than I thought. I have a small chance with her…as long as a basically turn myself around in her words. I guess I have to stop pulling pranks on her and all that crap," James answered, trying to stay as optimistic as he could.
"No offence but I doubt that you can do it, but you still got a much better response than I expected," Sirius said.
"Yeah I didn't think you had any chance!" Remus added.
"Well you know…James can get anyone he wants," Peter added.
"Stop being such a suck up Wormtail," Sirius said rolling his eyes at how pathetic Peter could be.
"You know I think Peter has a point there," James said, acting a bit more like his usual self.
"Maybe you would have even more than a small chance with Lily if you weren't so vain and conceited," Sirius laughed.
"Well you are the same way Padfoot my friend," James said, amused by his friend.
"So how's Lily doing anyway?" Remus asked.
"Well she could be better, but you know I think that Mariah and Claire really calmed her down a bit. I think I might have too, you know since I apologized and told her how much I like her," James said.
Sirius laughed, "And how much did you tell her you liked her?"
"A lot."
"Oh I'm sure that is exactly what you said," Remus said.
"I just said that she was the only one I wanted to be with and all that stuff," James said.
"Is that how you really feel, or were you just saying that?" Remus asked.
"Of course I mean it! You know how much I care about her!"
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A/N: hey people I'm sorry it took me so long to update...volleyball took up way too much time! but anyways heres the chapter(finally)!PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Oh and by the way I have a new story called broken heart, and i have a really good idea for the plot and i can't wait until i can finish it because i'm excited about all of my ideas for it, well anywayz it's a SBOC but don't worry she's not gonna be a mare-sue or whatever, she may sound a little like one at the beginning, but dont worry she wont be! Well anyways you should read that one and review it too, but you better review this one too! well anywayz...peace out bitchez! (and no thats not supposed to be rude)